ORONTEA DEL POGGIO IMPERIALE APRIL 8, 2008 – APRIL 8, 2026

PEDIGREE

Her official name, as registered in the Associazione Nazionale Felina Italiana, was Orontea del Poggio Imperiale.  She was a Chocolate Point Birman (Sacred Cat of Burma in English, Heilige Birma in German, and Sacro di Birmania in Italian).  Like so many cats, Orontea had numerous other, unofficial names:  Téa for short, T! for shorter, Mamma T One Time, The Meisterin, Beauty Queen (which she was), Devil Kitty, Marlon’s Girl, Sweetie Girl, Beauty Girl, and Best One (except for the other two kitties).

POGGIBONSI

Téa was born in a litter of four at Poggio Imperiale, a cattery in Stefania’s home in Poggibonsi, a Tuscan hill town between Florence and Siena.  Téa’s mother Galy was a Blue Point Birman also born in Italy, and her father Fiorucci was a Chocolate Point Birman born in Sweden.  According to the Italian Feline Association, cats born in 2008 were required to have names beginning with O.  Stefania named this litter after operas; hence Orontea.

I had found Stefania’s cattery online, a year or so after our cat Aldo died in February 2007.  Aldo had moved with us from San Francisco to Valuberti in 2004 and I missed having a cat terribly. Volunteering at a cat refuge in Arezzo did not give me the constant companionship I so craved.  So, I embarked on an Internet cat search.  From everything I had read about Birmans, the breed seemed just perfect—medium long hair, no undercoat so no fur matting, extremely social, playful but not aggressive, and very affectionate.  Having decided on the breed,  I looked for a Birman breeder in Italy and found Stefania. We made contact online, and on May 11, 2008, I went to Poggibonsi to choose a kitten. 

I will never forget that day. I sat on the floor of the bedroom given over to the kittens, watching them play and wondering which one I would choose to be mine.  They were all adorable but one in particular, Orontea, caught my attention.  

In fact, on my second visit on May 25, 2008, Téa chose me.  She looked into my eyes as I sat on the floor, ambled over to me, climbed into my lap, buried her little head into the crook of my arm, and fell asleep. 

On June 14, 2008, we brought Téa home.

VALUBERTI

I awoke that next morning to find Téa sleeping at the foot of our bed.  She was awake and when she saw that I was too, she looked me in the eye and ran over the covers to bury her head in my arm, just as she had done when we had first met at Stefania's. And as the circle of life would have it, on the last night of her life, as I slept in the guest room bed with her and Calyx and China Blue (two of her litter), Téa pushed her damp, little nose into my arm and curled up next to me, just as she had done when we first met.

Téa was fearless.  She climbed screen doors, 

played on the open stair (just treads, no risers -- so terrifying!), 

fell in love with the monkey that had been my deceased father's cat's toy, 

helped at the computer,

climbed trees, and sunned herself in the garden.  

She was also a very beautiful cat.  She won best of breed in her age group at a beauty contest on her 7-month birthday.       

And even at the end of her life, she still walked like a runway model.  

FIRST MATING - BOLOGNA

Stefania made an exception to her “no further breeding” rule for us.  She said we could mate Téa and suggested a woman in Bologna for a sire, whose name was King.  On June 7, 2009, Tea and I boarded the train at Castiglion Fiorentino for Bologna and embarked on her first sex tourism holiday.  The visit with King resulted in a pregnancy, but it did not go well.  

TRAVELS WITH TÉA

Téa was a well-traveled cat.  We got her accustomed to her carrier very early on, and she adapted to it and being in the car well.  We made weekly day trips in Tuscany for Sunday lunch; we took the ferry to Corsica and spent a week with her there; we even flew with her to San Francisco via Chicago for our 15th wedding anniversary in September of 2008.  

MOVE TO BERLIN

On July 1, 2009, we moved to Berlin. On July 16, I noticed a spot of blood on our bed and brought Téa to a veterinarian nearby.  He did an exam but found nothing amiss.  However, when I got her home, I noticed what looked like grains of rice on the bed--flea eggs!  Shocked that such a thing had been overlooked only added to my concern, so I searched for another vet.  Enter Dr. Georg König.  He did an ultrasound and found that Téa had five embryos from her cover by King; tragically, they had stopped growing and needed to be aborted post haste.  I later discovered that the flea collar she had worn at Valuberti was the likely source of her pregnancy problems.  The drug Dr. König prescribed caused Téa to abort, but it changed her personality at first; she became a little aggressive.

SECOND MATING - NETTETAL

We decided to give another mating a try and with Dr. König's encouragement and Stefania's help, we made an arrangement with Irmgard Baetke, who has a cattery in Germany near the Netherlands border.  In mid-March 2010, Téa and I boarded the train from Berlin to Nettetal for her second sex tourism holiday.  

Her sire was Tabby Booster, a Chocolate Tabby Point Birman.   Here he is on January 1, 2006.

And here is Téa, the coquette who won his heart, on March 21, 2010. 

THE KITTENS

Everything went well this time, and Téa gave birth to three kittens on April 28, 2010.  I had made a birthing box for her and when she was ready to deliver, she came into the kitchen where the box was set up, meowing loudly and fixing her gaze on me.  She seemed to want (and trust) me to help her. She went into Stage I labor at 11 pm on  the 27th and her first contractions began at 11:30 pm.  At 1:22 am on the 28th, her first kitten (Calyx) was born.  The second (Gracie) was born at 1:37 am and the third (China Blue) at 2:35 am. Téa, whose purr was always almost silent, purred loudly throughout the births.  Steve and I toasted with a bottle of Brunello at 3:00 am.

 

Here are the 2-week-old kittens with Téa on May 11, 2010.

And again on May 28, 2010, just a month after their birth.

Téa was exhausted postpartum and needed to be cleaned up.  She lay down on the living room floor and she let me gently wash her, never taking her eyes off me.

NAMING THE KITTENS

According to the Italian Feline Association rules for 2010, kittens' names had to begin with R.  I chose Latin names for roses, my favorite flower.  On June 12, 2010, we had the kittens' portraits taken.

Here is Rosae Calyx, a male (rosebud).

And Rosa Chinensis, a female (China Blue).

And Rosa Centifoglia, also a female (Gracie, nka Bubi). 

 Here are all three.

And here is the whole family at our first Berlin apartment on Witzlebenstraße, on the couch they have pretty much trashed. 

Four cats were more than we could handle, and we consulted with Stefania to find a loving home for one or two of them.  On September 16, 2010, we met Laura, who lives in Tuscany, and she became Gracie's pet parent.  We decided to keep Calyx and China Blue, and they are with us to this day.

TRAVELS  

After moving to Berlin, we kept the house at Valuberti and the apartment in Palermo as vacation destinations.  As a result we traveled to Italy in the Spring and the Fall by car and always with the cats.  We made a game of sneaking them into the pet-friendly Accor hotel in Rovereto, or onto the Naples-Palermo ferry.  Téa always rode in her carrier behind Steve, China Blue in the middle, and Calyx behind me.

 Here is the dynamic trio on the Naples-Palermo ferry--Calyx, China Blue, and Téa.

We even traveled with them for 11 days in a camper van on the Grand Tour Switzerland.  They never once tried to escape.  That's Téa, Calyx, and China Blue in the carrier.  It was a blast!

I think that's Téa on the left and China Blue on the right.  I know Calyx was driving.

FAMILY PORTRAITS

Yes, we do love our cats and miss Téa to the moon and back.  Here are some photos of her taken over the past 18 years.

Valuberti 

Palermo

 

 

 

Berlin 

 

 

 

 

 

THEY WERE INSEPARABLE

From their birth 16 years ago, Calyx and China Blue had never been apart from their mother, except during her brief hospitalization in early 2023.  She was the ring leader, the brains behind the operation, and the three of them were a whole, more than the sum of their parts.  Together, we were a family.  On April 8th, their world and ours changed forever.

 

 

 

LAST MONTHS

Téa's chronic kidney disease finally caught up with her, and she started to decline in mid-January of this year.  We first noticed that something was very wrong when she began bumping into things and her pupils were almost completely dilated.  We brought her in to see Dr. König and he saw that her blood pressure had spiked, likely a complication of her disease, causing her to go almost completely blind.

He started her on blood pressure medicine on February 2, and she did well for awhile, even regaining some of her sight.  She knew the apartment by heart, having lived here for 16 years, and she navigated it confidently. But as she approached April 8th, her 18th birthday, we knew her time was running out.  She was wobbly when she walked and sometimes had to take a rest between the kitchen and her litter box.  Her energy was at its peak in the morning, but by the end of the day she was oh so tired.  Nonetheless, right up until her last day, and even though she couldn't really see, she could still get up onto the windowsill in the kitchen and onto the guest bed where she slept at night.  She continued to eat, but her appetite had waned and she lost 0.8 pounds in the last week, dying at 4.4 pounds--half of her peak weight of 8.8 pounds in  2011.  

Here are photos of Téa and her babies taken in the last months of her life.

 

ORONTEA'S LAST DAY

It became clear on April 7th that it was time to say goodbye.  We arranged with Dr. König to come to the house the following day, ironically Téa's 18th birthday.

Her last day was a beautiful, peaceful, not-a-cloud-in-the-sky day full of love. She managed to climb up onto the banquette and then onto the windowsill in the kitchen, where she took up her usual spot at breakfast.

Then she made her way into the living room and I put her onto the blanket chest, where she toasted her fur in the sun, warmed also by Calyx and China Blue in turn.  

As it was Téa's birthday, we marked this last year of her life with a fuchsia ribbon and took birthday photos. 

 

Téa was very relaxed that day, and I spent most of it by her side, unable to take my eyes off hers, knowing that I would never see those soulful blue eyes again.  She seemed at peace.

Dr. König came at 8:30 pm.  He was patient and gentle and we held Téa as she slipped away in grace, enveloped in our love.    

SHE WAS MY HEART CAT 

As my friend Pat of more than 50 years said, "She was your heart cat."  And she was right.

FROM DUST TO DUST

Téa will be cremated this week  We will hold her ashes until those of Calyx and China Blue can be added to them, and then we will keep them together until we can scatter them in a meaningful, permitted place.  

TEA'S REBIRTH-DAY

My dear fellow ex-pat friend Libby, a believer in reincarnation, told me that April 8th was the Buddha's birthday this year.  I always felt Téa  had a soulful look, as if she somehow understood the veil of tears into which we are all born.  

So when I think of April 8th, I won't think of that day as the date of Téa's death, but as the date of her rebirth.   

AND THEN THERE WERE TWO 

Calyx and China Blue know that Téa is gone, and we know that cats grieve.  We're watching for signs of stress, but so far, the "kittens" seem to be adapting to their new reality, reorganizing their relationship and bonding with each other and with us in new ways.  

When friends ask how we're doing, all I can say is, "Things are getting back to the way they weren’t, but I think we're going to be OK."

Keep it real!

Marilyn