HELENA - THE GREY LADY CAT

HELENA - THE GREY LADY CAT

This is a story about a cat. A cat that I have had the entire time I have been working on this never ending project of mine. Yeah, when I first got the building I will later drop more than a decade of my life renovating, there was a stray cat that would come out at night. She was grey as all hell and you can just see her eyes coming towards you. I kept feeding her and was part of the first wave of strays that I decided to take an interest in helping out in the streets. Little did I know that she was knocked up with a load of stealth kittens that would I would take care for more than a decade. But more on that later on.

First off, yes. I did name her Helena in the most nerdy fashion. Her name comes from Rowena Ravenclaw's daughter Helena Ravenclaw - The Grey lady. Mainly coming from the fact of her really grey fur. She had to be the most grey cat to exist. Around the same time I started feeding her, I saw another little grey kitten that was clearly her offspring. I imagine that she was at least a year or two old living on the street and who knows how many waves of litters she had gone through. She was a mental case in terms of all that. I can't even imagine the hardship she had to enduring out there.

At the time, I was feeding another stray that came to like me a lot who I called Charlie, after the specific kind of tuna I started feeding him with.  Well, Helena loved Charlie. She was always rubbing up against him. If he was around, she would follow. I had attempted to make Charlie an inside cat, but that guy's soul was too much of a rambler. Helena, on the other hand, enjoyed the comforts of coming inside and sleeping on the sofa all day and getting the free food.

Also on account that she was starting to leak milk, I just assumed that she wanted indoors more because she was pregnant again. I was about to take her to get fixed but it seemed too late as she would give birth to a bunch of little fellas. But all the time she spent inside basically had her jump on my lap and treat me like I saved her or something. She would not leave me alone.

Sadly, Charlie in this time had been attacked and killed by a dog, but it was pretty clear that a few of these kittens were his doing as all but one were tabby's. The other one, Stout, was named so because there was another rando stray cat I kept calling Guinness out there and, well, it looked like the apple didn't fall far from the tree. 

That was the last bundle of kittens she had as I got her fixed and made sure she lived inside the place permanently. Besides, she made a few kittens, I'll be damned if she wasn't going to take care of these crazy little guys. I named one Indiana and he's just the silliest of cats.

Helena was a bit nuts. She suffered a crazy amount of PTSD from her time out there. She was clingy to me like nothing else. Always meowing at me for attention and whenever I was sitting down, she'd more than likely want to be on my lap.

Through the years she would constantly be the mother cat figure to the strays I brought in to domesticate and find homes for. It calmed her down a little. I think losing however many litters to the time she was outside really effected her and she was always cleaning and having some new kitten snuggle up with her. Even when she was a bit of a grumpy pants and hissed at them when they were sticking around too long. Again, she was a little unpredictable and nuts.

One stray I found in the middle of the road named Fred just loved her and he, being abandoned in the median by his mother, just loved Helena so much. He would go on to just always be around her despite how many motherly instincts Helena had to push him away to be on his own when he was clearly way too big for it.

Helena passed away last night. Well, some time during the day as she didn't come out for food. She had been losing weight despite not losing an appetite for weeks now, she still had a lot of energy in doing hood stuff like running outside whenever I opened the door to just chill in in the sun.

I can't say I'm shocked. The last few months have been rough on her. Because she was nuts, she would always just lay on the railing side on the second floor of the place and then nod off. Constantly falling down, landing with a thud and then shaking it off and going back to the same spot. I tried to get her to stop but she wasn't having any of that.

A couple of months back that fall was pretty rough and she looked like she had a strain in the crashing. For a solid month she was hobbling a bit, I got her treated for it but, well, it was just healing on her own. She loved going outside, like I just mentioned, she would love to just sniff stuff and then lay around out there. Not really looking to get away, but just relax. There was a couple of times where I didn't realize where she was out there and she just wander back when she was ready.

Recently I also just kept sitting with her outside and she would be rubbing on my leg. I kinda could tell that her time was limited, mainly because of how much weight she dropped. Not to mention that I really think that she had some dementia or something. She was just cry at night a lot and look very very confused.  On Friday she just wanted to get on my lap and would crawl up my leg in the most awkward way, bury her face into my elbow and just get some petting. I sort of babied her a little because it seemed like something was up. I guess she knew that her time was coming to an end and I sort of understood that something was up.

She didn't come out for food last night, which was strange because she did eat in the morning. I found her this morning in a dark area where she just went to go on to where ever it is that pets and loved ones go on to.

I dug a grave for her next to where I remembered I buried Charlie in the median. Yeah, I don't know how odd that sounds to read, but I just figured that she belonged close to the other cat she was so enamored with.

I had her for at least 13-14 years, I'll have to actually check to see the exact time line, I am sad right now for the loss. But I am glad that I was able to give her a home, comfort and all the love that she could have enjoyed. Most of all, a purpose. I'm also comforted with the fact that her suffering has ended. I'll miss those eyes and the way she just strolled around the place.

I implore you, if you see a stray out there, try to do something. Get them fixed. In Los Angeles there's plenty of free programs to catch and release these guys, or give them forever homes. It's rough out there and the average life span of a stray is about 2 years. Helena was one of the first strays that I took in and the love that she provided will last a life time. The feeling that I changed a life and made it better, that's the best feeling in the world.  I can refer you to several that I have personal experience with.

I miss you my little Grey Lady.