Reflections on a Cat

Meekah's health was failing and the vet said she was a couple of weeks away from respiratory failure. I had to say goodbye. My heart is crushed. I miss her terribly. She was such a sweet old cat.

Meekah was born in 2002 and she is the last of my four elderly cats alive. She has always loved affection and was very active when she was young. As I pointed out she drove Louie nuts when she was burning off energy. She is my little girl now and I want to take care of her and give her a good life until she passes on.

Louie was a remarkably interesting cat. He had that gravelly voice like Satchmo and a great personality when he was feeling well. Sadly, it took me a long time to figure out what was wrong with him. His first years and his last two were pretty neat although he suffered from diabetes due to me letting him get overweight. There are many things about Louie to remember; 1. He used to carry a little stuffed bear around with him and when he was a kitten he would tilt over on his front legs with his hind legs in the air it was so much heavier than him. 2. He enjoyed a drip in our bathtub faucet at our other home and years after the drip had been fixed he would sit underneath the faucet expectantly. Even in our new home after 2006 when he got into the bathroom he would sit under the faucet and wait for the drip that never came showing cats have a long-term memory. 3. He meowed with, as I said, a gravel voice that sounded more like Bill the Cat of Bloomsbury fame than a typical house cat

I miss Shakey so badly. I really depended expected him to always be there, at least for a couple more years. I feel like I failed him. He was such a friend, more than a pet.

Whitney was born in 1995. We named her after Whitney Houston, a beautiful African-American singer, popular at the time. She was such a petite little thing and so sweet.

Here Shakey is sitting by the carport door. He used to recognize my car as I got to the corner and sit there waiting on me, Beth said. But, when we decided we couldn't let the cats sleep with us we made them sleep in our downstairs family room at night. Shakey was strong enough to open the pocket door and it took me six months of piling stuff in front of it to try to thwart him before I broke down and attached a latch to it. The opening at the step where he is sitting in this picture is where the pocket door slides. He just moved everything I put there at night until I finally put in the latch. It was a real battle for awhile and he always won.