In Memory of Pixie 3/3/2019 – 12/13/2024
Every cat is special and has their charm. Some are a little prickly, some are silly and a little endearingly hairbrained. But every now and then, you meet a cat that truly embodies what it means to love—a personality so pure and sparkling you could compare it to the soft glow of string lights on snow. Pixie was one such cat, and this is her story, a dedication that pales in comparison to the love she sowed and nurtured within everyone around her every day.
In May of 2022, wandering the streets of Victoria, Texas, a cat so cute and tiny that she could be mistaken for a kitten was picked up by Animal Control. She was quickly taken in by a rescue, but her happy ending with potential adoption was cut short when she received her feline leukemia diagnosis. They reached out to many people in hopes of finding a better outcome for this sweet angel than the one that awaited her, and blessedly, we had room!
So, to Shadow Cats Pixie came. Looking back now, it’s always interesting to us how little we know at the time of their arrival. We don’t know what kind of cat they will be, or what sort of impact they will have on us or the other cats. When we looked at Pixie’s cute, round face and earthen tones—soft green eyes, an even softer tabby coat—there is no way we could’ve possibly known just how deeply she would affect Shadow Cats as a whole.
She fit right in. For some cats, Cookie’s Place can be…a lot! Many of our younger felvies live there, so there is no shortage of zoomies, rambunctious playtime, climbing and occasionally napping. Pixie was unbothered by the rapid back and forth. And in fact, over time, we learned that Pixie had quite the maternal instinct. She had become sweet on a kitty named Jeremy, and they co-parented the sweet, tiny felvies as they filtered into Cookie’s Place.
Unfortunately, Jeremy became very sick and though he fought it for a time, we had to make the difficult decision to let him go. We wondered how Pixie and all the kittens would react, whether or not they’d recover after such a heavy loss. That’s when Bob stepped up and filled in the fatherly role. Soon enough, Pixie & Bob were known as the Mom and Dad of Cookie’s Place.
Every kitten that stepped into Cookie’s Place knew their brand of nurturing and love. They were taught proper manners, of course, but always soothed with a lick or a cuddle. So many young cats have come and gone in Cookie’s Place due to the nature of the virus and their fragile, tiny bodies. But there is something so comforting in knowing that every single one of those baby angels, who at one time only knew a life on the streets, constant threats, and hunger, came to Shadow Cats and knew the love, consistency, and comfort of a family.
But Pixie was her own cat outside of the love she gave to others. We knew her as always loving a lap to snuggle on and a good chin scritch. She never knew a cat bed she didn’t like! Everyone was always shocked by her age because she was so, so tiny, with stumpy cute little legs and the fluffiest of tails. She looked like an eternal kitten despite her mature, motherly energy! But Pixie had a playful side to her, too.
We had never, ever seen Pixie use the cat wheel so famously loved as both a mini-gym and an impromptu bed despite the plentiful amount of actual beds lying around. But for some strange reason, when the first of this year rolled around, Pixie hopped on the cat wheel! She spent a good time running daily and had an impressive streak, but the timing was so odd…we joked that she’d had a New Year’s Resolution! It was the funniest, arguably most domestic thing we’ve seen one of our kitties do. When we look at the cat wheel, we’ll think of Pixie…and how she, too, abandoned her New Year’s Resolutions halfway through the year!
Pixie brought so much love and warmth to Cookie’s Place. She never knew a stranger, and regardless of whether it was the first or the fiftieth time you entered her room, she’d stand to greet you for a little love and attention. Unfortunately, a reality we know all too well, is that the clock tends to always be ticking with these felvies. Our Pixie had developed some chronic gastrointestinal issues, and after a suspicious ultrasound and a lot of monitoring, it turned out that our sweet girl had a common and lethal affliction: GI lymphoma.
We kept her as comfortable as possible and spoiled her always, but she eventually developed a palpable mass in her abdomen. Our bright beacon of sweetness in Cookie’s Place dimmed and grew tired. We loved her even still, and our hearts would melt when she would still stand up to greet us. We knew she’d hold on for us forever, and for all the sweet babies she’d nurtured that grew up around her. So, we knew we had to let her go for her own sake.
Surrounded by love, by a deep, penetrative sadness, Ebi and Nori (who Pixie had raised in the absence of their parents as kittens) circled Pixie as she lay in her bed at the center of Cookie’s Place. Bob watched from a distance, the staff circled around her, giving her treats and pets and all the love we could pack into a scritch of the chin and a stroke along her back, our beloved Pixie left us. It rained a lot the day she passed—it almost felt like the universe itself was grieving with us.
Though our hearts are broken, though we’ll miss seeing those cute little stumpy legs stretch as she rises to greet us, we know that Pixie isn’t in pain. We know that there are so many tiny kittens waiting, playing at the first step of the rainbow bridge to guide the closest they ever had to a mother across. Eternally, Pixie will have all the tiny kittens to cuddle, to mother, and we will feel her presence forevermore in that room, guiding our rambunctious and free into their adulthood, or waiting to guide them across the rainbow bridge when it’s their own time.
To the amazing staff who loved Pixie through her best times and all her medical difficulties, we thank you. We thank the amazing volunteers who always had a lap available for our most special girl. We thank Vista Vet for her incredible continued care, and we thank the sponsors, Christina Z and Anne F, who always had Pixie on their minds. To anyone who ever looked at this sweet girl and thought it was the cutest thing that she still looked like a kitten, we thank you.
For all your love, for your endless kitty smiles and cuddles, for your nurturing calm, and your playful pluck, we thank you, Pixie. We love you, and we always will.
Pixie had 2 Sponsors
Christina Zimmer
Anne Fajkus