In Memory of Jiji 7/28/2024 – 10/13/2025
On July 28th in 2024, two adorable kittens were born in Laredo, TX. A good Samaritan who fed community cats in the area quickly took responsibility of the litter and their mother, ensuring they had shelter and full bellies. There are little resources in the area, so they truly struck gold with this caretaker, who quickly took to them like they were her own.
Unfortunately, there are many uncertainties that come with a life lived outside. These two tiny kittens, no more than three months of age, lost their mother when a loose dog attacked. The caretaker who had watched the family so closely was heartbroken, but vowed to take the kittens in and find them loving homes in the absence of their mother.
The only thing that stopped that from happening was a feline leukemia diagnosis. With so few options locally, they were unsure how to find a positive outcome for the adorable pair of kittens who lost their mother too soon. Thankfully, they reached out to Shadow Cats, and on top of setting them up with food for their other feral colonies, we took the pair gladly, knowing that they had a life to live…no matter how long or short.
So, to Shadow Cats Jiji and Joy came! They quickly came out of their shells, if Jiji ever had one to come out of in the first place. Jiji was extremely playful and curious. It wasn’t unusual for him to spontaneously climb onto your shoulder like an oversized parrot if you were near something tall, even going as far as chewing your hair. We still are not quite sure if this was the compliment we thought it was!
Jiji’s confidence inspired as much in Joy, though occasionally the whole riling each other up thing worked a little TOO well, but they were the cutest of siblings. Jiji was quite protective where his sister was involved, and if Joy was in trouble, Jiji would be right at her side. They were partners in crime…emphasis on the crime sometimes! But their freedom was just a sign of the beautiful life they were able to live at Shadow Cats, free of the traumas they’d suffered at nature’s hands.
Jiji endlessly amused us. As a tiny kitten, he shared a similar look to that of Crinkle Fry. Sometimes a look of concentration would have his eyes looking like they were having a disagreement, pointed in different directions. He was squirrelly, and playful, and we often wondered if he was actually an alien transported from another plane into our sanctuary. He had character, and sweetness. He loved to be picked up and stretched, perhaps a throwback to the upside down kisses his caretaker once gave him. Jiji lived a beautiful, boundless life.
When he wanted to play, he played. When he wanted to eat…he would eat! Though Joy took the cake on that one. He sunbathed, he hunted, sure that were the catio more of an open arrangement he’d be sidling up alongside bunnies and squirrels. He learned from Goji how to chirp at the birds fluttering their wings upon their branchy perch. Goji, the Uncle of Cookie’s, taught them manners just as much as he relentlessly played with them. He and Jiji seemed to have an especially spitting resemblance even outside of their shared coat color.
Jiji and Joy even made it to their first birthday, donning party hats and snacking on a Fancy Feast cake made just for them. Jiji truly lived a full life, despite it being cut so terribly short. A life isn’t measured by time, not truly. It’s measured in joy, in laughter, in spirit. Some of the most impactful who grace this planet aren’t with us nearly as long as they deserve to be, but it doesn’t cheapen the beauty of the time we were so lucky to spend with them. Feline leukemia may have claimed Jiji’s body, his lung’s filling with fluid from the branch of lymphoma we know all too well. But it did not claim his heart.
Now, Jiji stands at life’s crossing. With green eyes as wide and lush as the grassy knoll stretching into the beyond before him, he looks out at eternity. Familiar faces greet him. Bob, the well-known tender of all feline leukemia positive kittens who passed into our ranks for a time, waits to guide him across the steps of the rainbow bridge. But Jiji, in true Jiji fashion, never acts as you’d expect him to. Bursting into a sprint, he runs free in a limitless body no longer plagued by viruses, by pain, by shortened breaths. Now, he can chase the birds, butterflies, and bunnies to his heart’s content.
Thank you to Jiji’s wonderful sponsors, Laura C, and Kailey W. Thank you to the lovely volunteers who always made sure Jiji had a toy to play with! Thank you to the incredible staff who raised Jiji into adulthood and spoiled him rotten. Thank you to the wonderful care he received at Vista Vet. Thank you to anyone who looked at his cute little face and thought, “Is that an alien?”
We love you, Jiji…we always will.
Jiji had 2 Sponsors
Laura Cano
Kailey Watson