Kitty Kitty was the only routine permitted to walk — and sleep — on the bar at Last Stop in Winooski. If you were lucky, she’d snuggle on your lap as you nursed a PBR. She liked all type of foods, specifically chicken wings. On warm bright days, she’d sprawl out on the back outdoor patio or conceal amongst the plants that lined the deck.
“She was definitely like, a diva,” said Shayla Ruland, the owner of Last Stop. “Very, very independent and did whatever she wanted. We always joke that she was actually the real owner of the bar.”
The precious cat, who lived at the bar for more than a lots years, died this month. She was 16 or 17, according to Ruland.
“We had our little routine at night, like when the bar closed I’d be closing up and she’d kind of hang out with me,” Ruland said. “Now not having anybody, it just feels really weird and empty, leaving there at night not having her there.”
Six years back, when Ruland purchased the dive bar — then called CK’s — from her brother-in-law, Kitty Kitty came too. According to Ruland, the orange and white cat at first resided in the house above the bar and began appearing when CK’s opened about 14 years back. Eventually, Kitty Kitty relocated full-time, with consent of her owner upstairs, Ruland said.
“He still lives there, and he was still helping feed her and everything all these years,” she said.
In recent weeks, Kitty Kitty’s health began to decrease and she was having problem walking. Three weeks back on a Saturday, Ruland strolled into the bar and might inform that Kitty Kitty wasn’t succeeding. She and a few of the bartenders drove her to the emergency situation veterinarian.
The veterinarians informed Ruland that Kitty Kitty’s kidney’s seemed stopping working.
“So at that point, I just made the difficult decision,” Ruland said. “There were four of us there with her when she went, so, you know, it was kind of nice that she was surrounded by the people that she knew.”
The bar prepares to hold a couple of occasions to commemorate Kitty Kitty, consisting of a cat adoption occasion in collaboration with From Feral to Furever on Aug. 13.
“It’s called ‘kitties and cocktails,’” Ruland said. “We’re going to have a mimosa bar in honor of Kitty Kitty, because mimosas are orange and she was orange.”
Kitty Kitty’s ashes now sit behind the bar. Ruland said she’s still getting used to life without her feline buddy.
“I never had had a cat before, and I was never a cat person,” Ruland said. “But she definitely changed that.”
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