Welcome to the Itty Bitty Kitty Letter The Newsletter of http://ittybitty.net -- Itty Bitty The Russian Blue Cat v01.01 July 17, 1998 Issue Number One! written and copyright 1998 by peter barry chowka e-mail: bitty.itty@usa.net Inspired by and dedicated to Itty Bitty (02.11.90 - 04.04.98) Hello! Thank you for visiting ittybitty.net and for subscribing to the Itty Bitty Kitty Letter. This concise newsletter will be issued from time to time, and should be of interest to people who like cats, Russian Blue cats, and animals in general. BACKGROUND The *Itty Bitty The Russian Blue Cat* Web site and the newsletter you are reading are inspired by the life and memory of Itty Bitty, a.k.a. Schierpurr Ivana, our dearly treasured female Russian Blue cat who lost her battle with kidney disease at age eight on April 4, 1998. After the shock and trauma of that day, we turned to the Internet for solace and found much understanding and support among visitors to the Usenet newsgroup alt.support.grief.pet-loss. Many of the individuals who are regulars in that remarkable newsgroup are among the most sensitive and intelligent people on the Internet. A wide variety of World Wide Web sites are also of value to a person grieving over the loss of a dear animal friend. In mid-April I began to set up (noncommercial) Itty Bitty Web sites, and the first one was launched on April 19 at Angelfire.com. On April 23 it moved to Tripod.com and on May 14, the domain name ittybitty.net was secured from InterNIC and now points to Itty Bitty's primary Web home. Several hundred people from all over the world have visited ittybitty.net and soon a campaign to announce the site more widely will begin. The objectives for the site include sharing with the world our appreciation of the uniqueness, cuteness, and charm of Itty Bitty via recollections and photos. It is a characteristic of Russian Blue cats to be shy, and few people outside of their immediate households have the opportunity to really know how special Russian Blue cats are. This was the case with Itty Bitty, who was a remarkable and loving cat but very shy, too. Itty Bitty's Web site also has a guest book, message areas, a chat client, e-mail contact address, this newsletter, and a list of links to facilitate information sharing and communication among the people who visit. It can therefore be as interactive as visitors to the site want it to be. SITE UPDATES Recently, ittybitty.net has added some noteworthy new content: A new page of links. A new photo of Itty, for a total of seven with more to be added soon. Translations of the home page into French, German, and Spanish! A poem by Kathi, Itty Bitty's "mom," titled "Itty Bitty The Charismatic Kitty." And most interesting, the posting of a Java-enabled fanciful photograph of Itty Bitty on the "other shore." Internet authority and author Mary Jo Fahey (*Web Publisher's Design Guide*) has commented that this photo may be the most striking one she has seen on the entire Web. If you have a Java-enabled browser (Netscape Communicator 4.05 works well, and Internet Explorer versions 4.0x are supposed to be good -- Explorer versions 3.0x do not work) you can go directly to the photo at <http://members.aol.com/dharmacat/ittybitty_java.html>. There is also a link to it from Itty's home page. SIMULTANEOUS ONLINE TRANSLATIONS Speaking of the translations of the Itty Bitty site into non-English languages: AltaVista has a free Web-based translation utility that can quickly translate any of five major European languages into English and vice versa. There is a 1,000 character limit on the input text. Even more amazing, you can type the url of a Web site into the box at the AltaVista Translator, select the language (for example, German to English for a site that is originally in German), and in a few seconds the page will be displayed in your browser, translated into the language (in this case English) that you've chosen, with the original graphics, layout, and design intact! There is a 5,000 character limit to this feature. Try it at <http://babelfish.altavista.digital.com/cgi-bin/translate?>. BASTET, ITTY BITTY'S FRIEND Itty Bitty's passing has left five cats in the household, including Bastet, a.k.a. Bast, a nine year old female Abyssinian. There is a photo of Itty as a kitten with Bast on the home page at ittybitty.net. To our dismay on June 25, Bast appeared at dinnertime with a fractured left forepaw! We have no idea how this happened. Our cats never go outside, and our best theory is that Bast jumped or fell from a high place somewhere in the house and injured herself. We got Bastet in to see the local vet that same evening and she had surgery the next day which included inserting a pin to set the break and facilitate healing. She was able to come home on June 27 and since then we have been lavishing her with special care while we try to keep her as quiet and as immobile as possible, not an easy task considering the lively and active personalities of Abyssinians. Bast is very sweet natured and is also a stoic cat, and she has been doing quite well. She seems to really appreciate the attention we give her and, her preference for hopping around and jumping notwithstanding, she is the perfect patient. Each Saturday at exactly 7:31 pm Pacific Standard Time (8:31 pm PDT), Kathi and I remember the moment when Itty Bitty passed away that first Saturday in April. Each Monday at 7 pm PDT, joining many animal lovers in other parts of North America and the world, we light candles as part of the weekly Candle Ceremony for animals who are ill or who have recently gone to the Rainbow Bridge <http://www.petloss.com>. We now think of Bastet when we light the candles on Monday, and hope for her speedy recovery. If you'd like to remember Bastet in your way, especially if you participate in the weekly Candle Ceremony, we would appreciate it. Credible scientific studies have demonstrated the power of intercessory prayer (that is, prayer or meditation by one person for another) to enhance or speed healing. We like to think that the weekly Candle Ceremony, with so many people all over the world joining in, has positive effects on the animals who are being embraced and encircled by such positive thoughts. BTW, in my career as a journalist, in 1996 I interviewed Larry Dossey, MD, the best selling author of *The Healing Power of Prayer* and other books on mind-body-spirit healing. He discussed the value of intercessory prayer at some length. You can read the complete interview online at my personal Web site starting at the url <http://members.aol.com/pbchowka/dossey1.html>. CLOSING THOUGHTS It is now almost fifteen weeks since Itty Bitty went to the Rainbow Bridge, or to the "other shore." It seems that not a moment goes by that we don't think of and miss her. Through the tears there has been considerable comfort in the small rituals of remembrance and celebration we have designed, including creating an Internet presence for Itty, communicating with people who love cats and other animals via e-mail, and seeing that Itty lives on now in another dimension in cyberspace. It is gratifying to hear from new friends from all over the world that Itty Bitty can still touch people via the Internet. We have a lot to learn from the animals with whom we share the planet. Itty Bitty taught Kathi and me a lot. We hope that our Internet efforts will allow us to share some of what we've learned, and to discover even more from the nice people with whom we've been in touch and whom we have yet to meet. Please feel free to visit http://ittybitty.net soon and to drop me a line at <bitty.itty@usa.net>. All the best to you and yours, and to your animal friends, too. peter