Violeta

Adopted 11 October 1997 in Tulsa – died 25 June 2007 in Tulsa



Had I been prescient, I would have had Dr. Poteet end her suffering; end of story. This undersized 10 month-old tuxedo cat with aquamarine eyes was the only survivor of a small litter. All of them and their mother ended as road kill in the outskirts of Broken Arrow, OK. Alone, she clung to the safety of the crawl space under a for-sale farm. When Mari Ines Ceca and her weird husband Elias Alcaraz bought the place, the little cat suddenly had abundant food and fresh water. In time the kitten may have become tamer but then one of their horses stepped on her.

Mari Ines called me sobbing for seeing the broken cat crawling and trying to climb walls when approached, wailing in pain all along. Not only could the severely injured cat not be caught, but Elias eschewed responsibility for veterinary care or euthanasia. Trying to rescue her myself would have wasted critical time, and so I called Malcolm Coldwell, an animal champion like no other. He rushed to the remote address armed with nothing but courage and a towel. A bloodied Malcolm finally caught the cat and delivered her to Poteet, a top-flight veterinarian trauma surgeon. He reconstructed a leg, not just broken but crushed, using hair-thin steel screws and plates. A few days later I received the dreaded call: “The cat is ready to go home.” What home!

I payed the substantial bill of a cat I had never seen before and wouldn't be touched. The cast encasing her leg and chest was heavier than she was, and so were the trials she had endured. The expect-the-worst expression in her brilliant blue eyes, all the more striking in the fame of her round black face, told a story. Blue, small, and wild … Violeta would be her name.

Violeta (R) and best friend Calpurnia (blog bio 13 May 2012)

With a heavy heart I took her home. For the next few weeks she lived in a wire cage atop the kitchen table, furnished with bedding, toys, water, dry food … and a litter box that, despite her impaired condition, she never missed! The other household cats visited her often and she didn’t seem to mind; she only recoiled from me. After the cast was removed and the X-rays showed another Poteet masterpiece, I kept her in the cage for a while where I had better access to her. Once she let me pet her inside the cage I set her free in my bedroom, where she had room to exercise, more windows to look out, and the cats (but not de dogs) could visit her. Socialization progress continued.

My fatal mistake didn’t seem to deserve eternal mistrust, but that’s precisely what it provoked. One day, after feeding and some tentative petting, I tried to prevent her from scurrying back under the bed by placing my hand under her belly simultaneously holding her tail with the other gently, I thought, sliding her back toward me. From that moment on, it was all over between us. She scurried not just under de bed, but down to the basement where she lived for the next 10 years.

It may look like a dungeon, but it isn’t. The washer and drier, the wine and cava reserve, and the litter boxes were there with the consequent traffic. Coeval with Violeta were Mi-Reina, Esmeralda, Pomponia, Mimosa, Pandora, Sultana, Pertinax, Antares, and Montecor. Calpurnia (Blog bio 13 MAY 2012) deserves special mention, because being kindness incarnate she adopted the little feral and kept her company at all times. Also, three bay windows at ground level overlook bird feeders, the neighbors’ driveway, the household dogs when they are out … At the very least my basement was better than the crawl space where she used to live. The upstairs door was and is always open and Violeta was known to make exploratory incursions into the main living area when people and dogs were out.

On 25 December 2004 around 1100 Violeta appeared in the TV room ... while I was there! and started playing with Calpurnia, who had been spending less time in the basement, leaving Violeta feeling lonely. I hoped this would be the turning point, but it wasn't.

I didn’t give up at that point. When she was “trapped” in one of the bay windows I petted her. A couple of times I even managed to hold her … both of us afraid. But her apprehension toward me, the dread in her eyes never relented. Eventually I stopped trying. “Don’t give up five minutes before the miracle happens,” I heard someone say recently. Sorry I did.

When I moved to Saudi Arabia in December 2005 Violeta and my other six indoor cats (plus 3 feral cats in the garage) stayed in their familiar environment under the care of my niece Lanette Dietz, who brought her own cats and dog into the milieu. Almost two years later, in the morning of 25 June, while cleaning the boxes Lanette saw Violeta sleeping in one of the windows, but something made her check closer … Violeta had died in her sleep. She was only 10 years old.

Oddly, when I heard the news on the phone I sensed more relief than sorrow. Violeta would need medical attention some day, and then another ordeal like the first time. She looked peaceful, Lanette assured me.

At the precise time --give or take a few minutes-- Violeta died in Tulsa, in the time zone of Dhahran, Saudi Arabia, I had rescued Basmah-Pastora, also small, also wild, also severely injured. Poetic justice, maybe, but I didn't do justice to Violeta, by giving up too soon."

Never forgotten.