Baby Bitsy

Elisabit June Edwards Birthdate: June, 1991 Birthplace: Morgantown, Indiana Nicknames: Bitsy, Biddy-gel, Beedy, Beedy-beeps, Bitsickle, Bit-bit, Queenie. Likes: I am furry purrticular. I like to be alone in the bedroom most of the time, although I do tolerate the presence of Samuall and Bubby. I like food, lots of it! I like catching mice in the laundry room and bringing them to eat on mummy's bed. I like it when Mummy and Daddy turn out the lights and I can snuggle between them to sleep. I like to snuggle next to Mummy when she tries to read in bed. Most of all, I like being The Queen! Dislikes: How much room do I have on this page to say that? I don't like all the cats on Mummy's lap, so I can't be there. I don't like them eating my food. I don't like Mummy lighting those sticks she calls smoking! And I definitely don't like Samuall hiding and jumping out on me in my bedroom, and chasing me. There are lots of other things. Let me see...

No one--I said, NO ONE gets to touch this food except a human who's going to open it! See this post behind me? That's where I sharpen my claws, and any cat who tries to get food before I do will feel them!

Bitsy was born in June of 1991, to one of Poppy's daughters--a black and red tortie named Crisanthemum (Crissy). We were in the midst of a heat wave, and a terrible flea problem developed. I had been told you're not supposed to flea-spray a pregnant cat, so we didn't. Then, you're not supposed to flea-spray a nursing mother cat, so we didn't. You also aren't supposed to flea-spray kittens under--what is it, three months?--so we didn't. In the meantime, Crissy was so miserable from the opressive heat (and the fleas) she didn't want to stay with her kittens. We kept her with them in a large carrying cage, but she was not happy and would hardly allow them to nurse.

Under these conditions, the kittens became weaker day by day. I gave them supplementary feedings of evaporated milk and water with an eyedropper, and they were finally weaned and able to eat on their own. But then they developed diarrhea which we couldn't stop with medication. They became dehydrated, and also being anemic from flea-bites, they just couldn't survive. One by one they died, in a matter of days--that is, all but Bitsy. She ate well, but the diarhhea wouldn't stop. A neighbor of ours, who has many pets, brought us some new medication, and gave Bitsy a king-sized dose of it. By that time I had little hope, but I trusted Barbara--she had helped us treat our pets on other occasions, with positive results.

The next morning I went into the kitchen, and was dismayed at the sight of Bitsy lying on the floor. Her tiny legs would not hold her up--she couldn't stand or walk. Sure that we would lose her that day, I wrapped her in a towel and sat on the couch, cradling her in my arms. I must have sat there for hours, weeping all the while. Then, at about 1pm, she crawled out of the towel, jumped to the floor, and proceeded to walk to the kitchen, where she devoured some cat food left from the other cats' feeding--and no diarrhea afterwards. I couldn't believe it--it was a miracle! I still think of her as my miracle baby.

She is now one of our stockiest cats--also one of the smartest. When our Tuzi, the Queen for many years, went to the Bridge, Bitsy was a ready and willing candidate; she claimed the title and the throne, and has been ever since the reigning Queen of the Edwards feline family. But that isn't all she does; she also rules at her own website, dorissimo's domain, where she and Sammy, who has the misfortune of being her lackey, dwell in a dark, forbidding castle. Be careful if you visit there--there be dragons and things lurking in the corridors.