Goodbye, Dudinha.



Published: 21-11-2023
Tags: off-topic



I can't believe I have to write another one of these, but here we are.

Dudinha, or as I often called her Lela, or Lelinha as she was yellow, was a cat that had been around since 2007(ish) and we lost her at 16 years old, which is super sad, but at the same time it's a fairly long life for a cat.

It's just sad that I haven't been able to interact with her for the last 7 years of her life, aside for one trip to see my sick aunt Stella, as she lived with my parents in Brazil and, as you all may know, I've been living in Australia since 2015.

She was the most cautious cat in the world, a bit scared of everything and people who she didn't know while being extremely loving to the people she knew.

We adopted her in 2007/2008, about the same time period we adopted Pitica, the black cat I lost before her. Because of that they both tolerated each other the most, alongside Sheep as well.

2015



One time we almost lost her. Around 2010 we were in the process of moving to another city and on moving day something spooked her and she ran away and disappeared. After we moved out we still had the keys to the apartment for a few more days and with the apartment empty, my mom left some food there to see if it would attract her back. Everyday my mom would go there to check and towards the end she noticed that the food was being eaten but there was no sign of her.

On the last day we had the key, we had already lost hope and we'd have to move on, so she went to the apartment to pick up what was left and Dudinha was there!

We were already at the new place in the new town and my mom was staying at my aunt's place for those few days until she gave the keys back and she had no cat carrier. So she took Dudinha in her arms, walked down the road and took a cab to my aunt's place. The whole time holding her tightly in her arms as Dudinha was trying to free herself as she was being carried in the street with people she didn't know and a lot of stressful noises.

But in the end my mom managed to get her to my Aunt's place and she got a carrier to bring her home with her. That was a very close call but we were so happy we didn't lose her.

In 2012 we moved cities again but this time everything went smoothly, but we moved to a fairly small apartment with 5 people, 7 cats and 1 dog, and Emily, our younger black cat at the time that we lost a couple of years ago, as a bit of bully towards her.

So she adopted the bathroom as her rightful place.

She loved staying in the bathroom and would give cuddles to everyone who needed to take a dump. But she stayed there so much that for a bit she had some skin issues because of the humidity. She was a bit fat at that time as well.

But she would still go out and hang around other areas of the apartment.





I left Brazil and moved to Australia in 2015 when we lived in that apartment. And I hadn't seen her in person for 7 years. My mom would always show her on video calls though.

Last year, I did go to Brazil to visit my aunt Stella who was in the hospital, who I lost as well, and luckily I got to see Dudinha one last time, I didn't know that would be the goodbye but I'm glad I managed to see her.

She even slept on the bed with me one night.

Dudinha, you were a special cat and I'll never forget your dummy face. Goodbye my old friend, I miss you and you'll always be in my memory.





Copyright © 1988-2024 The Eric Experiment