Miss Kitty, a beautiful Calico cat and the runt of the litter, came into our lives 20 years ago. My youngest son and his wife took Miss Kitty to Chicago where they lived on the 14th floor of a high rise. Amazingly, Miss Kitty, with only one eye due to a birth defect, had the agility and balance of any cat. One day while talking to me on the phone my son exclaimed he had to get the cat off the railing of the balcony, where she was walking.
When my son was deployed to the first Gulf War, Miss Kitty came to my house to live, where she remained for the next 16 years. She spent her days outside hunting birds and anything else in her sight, and perching on the tops of poles, cars, and sheds. She loved to take her kitty toys-milk rings- to the neighbors, where she expected to be entertained at her command. Miss Kitty wasn't interested in socializing with the rest of the animals in the family and preferred a solitary existence. One exception in her early years was when my son would come to visit. Miss Kitty would go running to him, meowing and cooing to him, even after many years apart. She never forgot him, and seemed to be asking him where he'd been. Seemingly independent and aloof to the rest of the family, she must have paid more attention to what went on than we gave her credit for, because upon my return home after my many hospitalizations, Miss Kitty would stand on the table in front of me and "yell" at me for being gone.
In her last couple of years Miss Kitty lost her hearing, but it didn't keep her down. She would go upstairs to her favorite bedroom of the day, and get on a bed where she'd yell so we would know where she was. We tried to accommodate her advancing years by placing her food and water bowls in a more accessible place, but she was used to her routine and demanded that they be left in the same place they'd always been kept. Our other two cats, Angel and Sunny, seemed to sense Miss Kitty's infirmity near the end and accompanied her through the house as she wondered around, though never interfering with her desire to remain independent. On her last day Angel and Sunny sat by her side, keeping vigil over her. Miss Kitty never suffered, she just finally went to sleep and that was the end. She was cremated and I want her ashes put with mine.
Edit by Marsha: And so the ashes were placed with Florence's upon her death.
When my son was deployed to the first Gulf War, Miss Kitty came to my house to live, where she remained for the next 16 years. She spent her days outside hunting birds and anything else in her sight, and perching on the tops of poles, cars, and sheds. She loved to take her kitty toys-milk rings- to the neighbors, where she expected to be entertained at her command. Miss Kitty wasn't interested in socializing with the rest of the animals in the family and preferred a solitary existence. One exception in her early years was when my son would come to visit. Miss Kitty would go running to him, meowing and cooing to him, even after many years apart. She never forgot him, and seemed to be asking him where he'd been. Seemingly independent and aloof to the rest of the family, she must have paid more attention to what went on than we gave her credit for, because upon my return home after my many hospitalizations, Miss Kitty would stand on the table in front of me and "yell" at me for being gone.
In her last couple of years Miss Kitty lost her hearing, but it didn't keep her down. She would go upstairs to her favorite bedroom of the day, and get on a bed where she'd yell so we would know where she was. We tried to accommodate her advancing years by placing her food and water bowls in a more accessible place, but she was used to her routine and demanded that they be left in the same place they'd always been kept. Our other two cats, Angel and Sunny, seemed to sense Miss Kitty's infirmity near the end and accompanied her through the house as she wondered around, though never interfering with her desire to remain independent. On her last day Angel and Sunny sat by her side, keeping vigil over her. Miss Kitty never suffered, she just finally went to sleep and that was the end. She was cremated and I want her ashes put with mine.
Edit by Marsha: And so the ashes were placed with Florence's upon her death.
Miss Kitty, a beautiful Calico cat and the runt of the litter, came into our lives 20 years ago. My youngest son and his wife took Miss Kitty to Chicago where they lived on the 14th floor of a high rise. Amazingly, Miss Kitty, with only one eye due to a birth defect, had the agility and balance of any cat. One day while talking to me on the phone my son exclaimed he had to get the cat off the railing of the balcony, where she was walking.
When my son was deployed to the first Gulf War, Miss Kitty came to my house to live, where she remained for the next 16 years. She spent her days outside hunting birds and anything else in her sight, and perching on the tops of poles, cars, and sheds. She loved to take her kitty toys-milk rings- to the neighbors, where she expected to be entertained at her command. Miss Kitty wasn't interested in socializing with the rest of the animals in the family and preferred a solitary existence. One exception in her early years was when my son would come to visit. Miss Kitty would go running to him, meowing and cooing to him, even after many years apart. She never forgot him, and seemed to be asking him where he'd been. Seemingly independent and aloof to the rest of the family, she must have paid more attention to what went on than we gave her credit for, because upon my return home after my many hospitalizations, Miss Kitty would stand on the table in front of me and "yell" at me for being gone.
In her last couple of years Miss Kitty lost her hearing, but it didn't keep her down. She would go upstairs to her favorite bedroom of the day, and get on a bed where she'd yell so we would know where she was. We tried to accommodate her advancing years by placing her food and water bowls in a more accessible place, but she was used to her routine and demanded that they be left in the same place they'd always been kept. Our other two cats, Angel and Sunny, seemed to sense Miss Kitty's infirmity near the end and accompanied her through the house as she wondered around, though never interfering with her desire to remain independent. On her last day Angel and Sunny sat by her side, keeping vigil over her. Miss Kitty never suffered, she just finally went to sleep and that was the end. She was cremated and I want her ashes put with mine.
Edit by Marsha: And so the ashes were placed with Florence's upon her death.
When my son was deployed to the first Gulf War, Miss Kitty came to my house to live, where she remained for the next 16 years. She spent her days outside hunting birds and anything else in her sight, and perching on the tops of poles, cars, and sheds. She loved to take her kitty toys-milk rings- to the neighbors, where she expected to be entertained at her command. Miss Kitty wasn't interested in socializing with the rest of the animals in the family and preferred a solitary existence. One exception in her early years was when my son would come to visit. Miss Kitty would go running to him, meowing and cooing to him, even after many years apart. She never forgot him, and seemed to be asking him where he'd been. Seemingly independent and aloof to the rest of the family, she must have paid more attention to what went on than we gave her credit for, because upon my return home after my many hospitalizations, Miss Kitty would stand on the table in front of me and "yell" at me for being gone.
In her last couple of years Miss Kitty lost her hearing, but it didn't keep her down. She would go upstairs to her favorite bedroom of the day, and get on a bed where she'd yell so we would know where she was. We tried to accommodate her advancing years by placing her food and water bowls in a more accessible place, but she was used to her routine and demanded that they be left in the same place they'd always been kept. Our other two cats, Angel and Sunny, seemed to sense Miss Kitty's infirmity near the end and accompanied her through the house as she wondered around, though never interfering with her desire to remain independent. On her last day Angel and Sunny sat by her side, keeping vigil over her. Miss Kitty never suffered, she just finally went to sleep and that was the end. She was cremated and I want her ashes put with mine.
Edit by Marsha: And so the ashes were placed with Florence's upon her death.
