A prayer of Thanksgiving for a beautiful little Queen

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Dear God:

Today, Pete and I are stunned, devastated and heartbroken. We’ve lost our sweet, cuddly, delightfully ornery and lovable little Queen Elizabeth.

We knew, when we adopted her from the Animal Protective League, that she had health issues. She was 10 years old and walked with a decided limp, which our vet believed stemmed from a possible too-close encounter with a car while she was roaming the streets after being abandoned by the people with whom she previously lived.

But I fell in love with Elizabeth the minute I laid eyes on her at the Cat’s Pyjamas, a cat cafe in our community whose owners worked with the APL She was a gorgeous little “tortico” (a combination of calico and tortoiseshell) with long silky fur and amazing coloring. Even her chin, paws and little toe pads had the tricolor calico markings.

She had an irrepressible personality to match her incredible beauty. The adorable Queen Liz knew how to be the center of attention. Here she was, standing on top of a pile of Christmas gifts under the tree at the cat cafe.

And here she was on TV, hamming it up for the camera while the anchor of our local TV news station interviewed the cat cafe’s owner.

As soon as we brought her home just before Christmas last year, Lizzie spent the first several minutes sniffing every square inch of the house before making herself right at home on our bed. She was affectionate and engaging and utterly charming from the start.

Within a half hour of arrival at her new home, our little Lizzie Beth was already rolling over and playing cute for us, and we knew this little girl was going to be quite a character! She loved to hop up on the kitchen table and beg for food, and I called her “my shadow” because she followed me everywhere I went.

She fit very nicely into laps. Here she was, sitting on Pete’s lap. She also liked to join me for morning meditation in front of the fireplace. As soon as I settled in my recliner, she would clamor for a spot on my lap. After I petted her for a couple of minutes and gave her a treat, she would sit on top of a cat condo next to my chair while I journaled.

She liked to snooze in this cat tree next to my desk in the office. She soon learned how to commandeer the top of my high-back swivel chair, where she would sit just behind my head whenever I engaged in a church committee meeting via Zoom.

While still at the Cat’s Pyjamas, she already had a talent for finding makeshift cat beds. Here she was snoozing atop a pile of shirts that were part of a merch display at the cafe.

At home, she created cat beds everywhere. She especially loved pillows, which made a suitable throne for a queen, I’d say.

She absolutely loved curling up in bed with us. She was a sweet little cuddler, and if she got petted by both Pete and me at the same time, one could hear her purring a mile away.

But she liked sleeping on us even more. Sometimes, if I went to sleep while lying on my back, I’d wake up to find her sleeping on my stomach. I’d tell her I needed to roll over, and as soon as I did, she’d climb back up and park herself on my hip.

Her irrepressible personality earned her a number of nicknames: Ms. Liz, Little Girl, Baby Girl, Lizzie Beth, the Queen. My camera just loved this sweet adorably ornery little girl. Doesn’t she look like the Queen of all she surveys?

I loved feasting my eyes on her beauty and telling her how gorgeous she was. And I’m so grateful I got one last opportunity to do this while cuddling with her just before getting up yesterday morning. Because it was less than an hour later that – suddenly, without warning – she would begin crying out in obvious distress and I would be rushing her to the emergency vet.

As I said earlier, I knew when we adopted her that she was a “senior” cat with health issues, and this meant we would most likely have her with us for a shorter time than we got to have with our other kitties.

What we didn’t know – and even the vet who recently gave her a wellness check didn’t know – was that she had an underlying heart condition. The condition that would claim her life just months after we brought her home.

Despite all that, I’m glad we adopted her. I know some folks shy away from adopting an older pet, especially one with “special needs.” But I would do it again in a heartbeat. Our little “senior” brought us so much joy!

So thank-you, God, for our precious Lizzie Beth. I firmly believe animals are one of your greatest gifts to us, and I thank you for the time we got to spend with this adorable little powder puff, even though our time with her was sadly brief.

And thank-you, Queen Elizabeth, for blessing our lives. Rest in peace, Little Girl. I will always love you to pieces, and I am SO, SO glad we brought you into our home, even though you stayed for such a short time.

With love and gratitude,

50 thoughts on “A prayer of Thanksgiving for a beautiful little Queen”

  1. I lost my cat, Mr. Simon, of 15 years to illness on March 5. It’s a very painful loss. Even when he was healthy, the anticipation of that inevitable, indeed potentially imminent, dreadful pain of such loss has left me convinced I should not have another cat. I feel it may not always be ‘better to have loved and lost than to have never loved at all’.

    I’ve long felt that God’s lovingly artistic side definitely went into the graceful feline creation. Call me a wuss, but cats indeed are beautiful animals — perhaps more precious and innocent than humanity collectively deserves.

    Nevertheless, human apathy, the throwaway mentality/culture and even a bit of public hostility toward them typically result in population explosions thus their inevitable neglect and suffering, including severe illness and starvation. With the mindset of feline disposability, it might be: ‘Oh, there’s a lot more whence they came’.

    It’s likely that only when their over-abundance is greatly reduced in number through consistent publicly-funded spay/neuter programs, might these beautiful animals’ soothing, even therapeutic — many owners describe them as somewhat symbiotic — presence be truly appreciated rather than taken for granted or even resented. Until then, cats likely will remain beautiful yet often misunderstood, prejudged and unjustly despised animals.

    Many, if not most, people cannot relate to cat owners finding preciousness and other qualities in their beloved pets, including a non-humanly innocence, that make losing them someday such a horrible heartbreak. Even when the innocent animal has been made to greatly suffer needlessly, perhaps before finally being murdered, many people will instead think and maybe mutter, ‘It was just a cat’.

    Many non-cat-fans don’t care for the innate resistance by cats to heeling at their masters’ command. And their reptile-like vertical-slit pupils and Hollywood-cliché fanged hiss when confronted, in a world mostly hostile toward snakes, cause cats to have a seemingly permanent PR problem, despite their Internet adorable-pet dominance.

    As for the human species, along with our ‘intelligence’ comes a proportionate reprehensible potential for evil behavior, e.g. malice for malice’s sake. With our four-legged friends, however, there definitely is a beautiful absence of that undesirable distinctly human trait.

    While animals, including cats, can react violently, it is typically due to reactive distrust/dislike or necessity/sustenance. But leave it to us humans, with our higher capacity for intelligence, to commit a spiteful act, even if only because we can.

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  6. I am so sorry for your loss. I know that you’ll see her in heaven. I believe our pets will be with us there. The Bible speaks of animals in the new heavens and earth, so why not the pets that brought us so much joy.
    You wrote beautifully about your beloved Queen Liz. Thank you for sharing her story with us.
    And, you’re right about adopting senior cats and dogs. They bring us just as much love and joy. If it weren’t for people like you, many seniors would spend the end of their lives in a shelter instead of at home being loved by their people. Again, thanks.
    Robin

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    • I’ve learned in life that I can feel two seemingly opposite emotions at the same time – gratitude for her presence in my life, however brief, and grief at losing her – so it’s possible to feel grief and gratitude at the same time. I sure loved that Little Girl!

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  8. Pingback: A prayer of Thanksgiving for a beautiful little Queen – Wisdom express news

  9. I am so sorry for your loss! Such a beautiful cat with such a wonderful personality. We do so love our pets and God does gift us with these awesome creatures. You are right…you may have only had this one special cat for a short time, but every moment was worth it.

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  10. Pingback: Remembering a queenly calico cat, a timid little ‘scamperpuss’ and the joy — and heartache — of adopting rescue animals – Ordinary Time

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