March 14, 1990---July 2, 2007
as told by her sister
Pepe
It was the day before Easter that year when Mickey was adopted, and many names were considered, some having to do with Easter/Spring. "Mickey" was settled upon because there was one other cat in the household at the time, named Mouse, and Mickey seemed to go well with Mouse, plus meowmie thought Mickey fit her. In the following years she was given nicknames and was called Kimberly a lot, or Kim/Kimmy. "Little Sir" and "Sir Mickey" were also two of her nicknames, don't ask meowmie why.
On the day my parents went to the dairy to pick a kitten out, there were many to choose from, and meowmie picked Mickey because her eyes were the bluest she'd ever seen. She was only a month old and so tiny, but the lady said she had been eating canned food already and was ready to go to her new home. Meowmie was apprehensive to take such a tiny kitten, so the lady opened a can of Fancy Feast to show meowmie how well Mickey could eat, and eat she did, and they brought her home. A "nursery" was made in daddy's bathroom with a stuffed kitty for Mickey so she would think she was still with her litter mates. My parents were afraid they might squish Mickey during the night, so she stayed in the nursery for awhile.
She was extremely playful, and Mouse was a teenager and was not impressed with her activity level, so she had no one to play with. As she grew, she would tackle my parent's ankles, hands, whatever part was handy. When Mickey was near a year old my parents decided she needed a playmate, someone closer to her age, because all Mouse liked to do was watch her antics from a distance, so they adopted another kitten from the dairy, Simba. Mickey loved Simba almost from the first, and maybe thought she was her baby. This gave her an outlet for her playfulness and she no longer attacked my parents, rather took out her energy on Simba. From what I'm told, I think she thought Simba was her own personal squeak toy.
I was adopted when Mickey was 5 years old. There wasn't much upset in the household when I joined. Maybe Mickey & Simba thought I was one of their sisters from the backyard so they didn't take much notice. I stayed mainly in the house with Mickey & Simba, while my other 4 brothers/sisters stayed out in the safe yard. The three of us were allowed to go outside when we wanted but we all preferred the house most of the time.
Mickey was the great hunter of the household. She loved to hunt birds, and in her youth could jump five feet high and grab a bird out of the hanging bird bath! She also liked moths and any other moving creature. One night she was after a moth in the house and it went into a ceiling light. Daddy was trying to get it out and was reaching with his two arms up, had no shirt on, and all of a sudden Mickey jumped up to his chest trying to get that moth. It was a shock to daddy, and meowmie couldn't stop laughing.
Mickey was very active and playful even up until the last couple months of her life. She would run up and down the hall, and onto the couch with her eyes blazing. She sounded like an elephant at times with her running. Her favorite toy was a crumpled up piece of paper and the tunnel of love.
Before Simba went to the bridge, Mickey would snuggle and nap with her much of the time, and they'd wash one another. After Simba was gone, Mickey liked to sleep on the padded dining room chairs in the winter with a jacket hung on the back making a little fort, or in a slipper bed she received for Christmas. In the summer she simply liked the carpeted floor the best.
Mickey loved water and was fascinated by the sprinklers or hose running in the backyard, and the bathtub, and whenever meowmie would fill the water bowls she would run to stick her nose right there to try and drink from the container meowmie was using for filling the bowls. She didn't mind getting wet at all.
Mickey had an odd way to eat. She didn't' chew her dry food, just swallowed it. She ate that way since she was a kitten. The vet couldn't find anything wrong with her teeth to make her not crunch it up. When it was just Mickey and me after Simba was gone, my parents could always tell which of us was eating during the night because of the chewing, or lack of.
Thunder scared Mickey terribly and when it would storm she would pace and pant and it was hard for meowmie to console her. After she got older, 14 or so, she lost a lot of her hearing and thunder didn't bother her at all, and neither did noise on the roof when daddy would work up there, and at about this time she also was not bothered by strangers coming to the house and would even go up to them to be petted, where before, she was like the rest of us and would hide from strangers.
Mickey liked to be brushed and had a beautiful coat, and meowmie loved seeing her draped over the furniture napping. Her presence was very calming to my parents.
Mickey was diagnosed with hyperthyroidism at age 15 and had to take medication for the past two years. She never fussed about it, took it very well. She was a sweet, laid back kitty and the habitat feels the emptiness now that she is gone. We know she is now reunited with her little buddy Simba though, and it must have been a wonderful reunion on that day!
