Funny how the habit is still so ingrained - at the end of the day, I think about how I need to post to Year of the Cat. This is the end. I didn't want to say it. I did think about ways to clutch onto this site, somehow keep it going. I've "met" so many new people through this venture, all of you who have followed the adventures of our kitten. I didn't want to lose that. But how could I possibly keep posting here: random cats? Links to other cats? It all feels so wrong. We put the bed and the scratching post into the garage. I can't really think about another kitten yet, but maybe later I will. There's a large kitten sized hole in my world at the moment. So, maybe. It was exactly 6 months ago when Kitkat made his way into our lives. Those of you with pets know, I'm sure, what a change that makes to your daily life. Ten times a day, you'll still find me wandering through the house, trying to find him for a quick cuddle. Then I remember. Your messages meant so much to me and my son (on Fotonomy as Kittenlover. He'd probably appreciate a quick hello if you can spare the time). Thank you, all of you who took the time to comment and to mail me. It is comforting to know that our born-feral alley cat with attitude made so many friends. Somehow it makes me feel better to know that you all considered him special as well. I've forced myself to take a photograph a day since this happened. It seemed important, there is so much that is ending now, I needed to make sure that I didn't associate photography with that. I'll keep posting as sylvia, for my sake and for my son's sake and because I am so touched by the community here. I have gone through these photographs every day since it happened and I'm glad that I have them. It's an incredible history. But I'm turning the light off and moving on. Thank you for sharing the last 6 months with me. Good night.

Wednesday night, Kitkat nagged for my attention, taking me out into the garden. I think he wanted me to shoo away another cat that was there ... I never saw anything. He came to get me twice, then seemed happy enough on his own. I kept going downstairs, it's silly but I loved the way that 'kat would come get me when ever anything was wrong. We stayed up late, that night, and by the time we were ready for bed Kitkat was back in. I gave Kitkat a cuddle and sent him out for the night. After the initial upset, he never complained about being locked out at night, he prowled and napped in the rockery and then prowled some more. The next morning I had a lie-in, but I knew Cindy was there and that Kitkat was more than capable of letting her know that he needed feeding. As the morning wore on, I checked for 'kat around his favourite spots in the house, but I wasn't really worried, I just wanted a quick nuzzle. Kitkat often disappeared for hours, asleep someplace in the garden, usually. It had gone afternoon before I started to worry: going through the garden clapping loudly (to wake him) and calling his name, then going through the house thoroughly, under beds, in guest rooms, in cupboards where he could have slipped in and get trapped. There was no sign of him. I told myself he was probably sleeping someplace hidden and would show up soon. An hour later, I went through the same routine again, to no avail. Then I went out to the street. I knew what I was looking for. I still wasn't ready when I found it, the body of a cat across the road. As I went forward, I hoped desperately that it would be a different cat, the one that looked like him, anything but not my Kitkat. I got close enough to be sure and burst into tears. He was still in a running position, clearly he never knew he'd been hit. Someone had moved him from the middle of the road to the edge. It was my Kitkat. He was no more than 4 feet away from our back gate, from safety. I think it must have happened fairly early - he usually didn't stay out that long during the day without checking in. He got breakfast from Cindy around 9:30 and then must have gone out again. I've never seen him leave the garden before but we watched the feral black cat come in and out from there and there's no question that Kitkat could fit through without any problems. I just don't know why he wanted to. :(

These are the last photos I took of Kitkat. Last night, he got out of the garden and was hit by a car. I'll write more when I stop crying.

'Kat experienced his first serious rainstorm yesterday. He sniffed about and was interested for a brief moment. I snapped a photograph of him and left him to it. He quickly came chasing after me, mewing unhappily. I stopped and followed him and he took me back to the balcony. It was pretty obvious that he wanted me to fix Outside to being nice and dry again.

He was very confused. Being a cat in Southern Spain, you don't see that much rain. Especially if you were born in the Spring and experiencing your first Autumn. At first, he simply wasn't sure what to make of it and sniffed at the drops as they hit the ground.

Kitkat gets all excited when he hears flies buzzing against the glass door trying to get out. They try to stay up out of his reach but he can jump pretty high, now! Then he eats them. Bleugh!

Pensive.

"Kitkat Sometime After Moonrise"

Failed attempt to do "Kitkat at Moonrise" portrait ... punctuated by my shouting "Stay STILL dammit!" into the night.

I got all mushy as I looked at the photograph before he could reach the top of a step, so I took another photograph to compare. http://www.fotonomy.com/YearOfTheCat/photo/8ec4e47b/