Kitty Heaven

GONE, BUT NOT FORGOTTEN

Princess was a petite gray/black tabby cat who lived with my sister before we all moved in together. For a few years, I moved back home, and Princess became "my kitty". She sat on my lap and slept with me every night. When I moved out again, I left her behind to stay with her brother and my sister. But I visited every weekend to play with her.
When we combined our households in 1993, Princess was so shy and scared of the new environment (and the new cats), that she hid for three days in the basement. Eventually, we were able to coax her out, but she stayed primarily in the basement, finally venturing upstairs only to very quickly run to Barb's bedroom. Within a year, she developed a quick-growing tumor on the back of her leg, which was found to be cancerous. Princess went to kitty-heaven in 1994.

Chester was a litter-mate to Princess and lived with them until 1993 when we bought our house. Being the only male in the house, he was like a laid-back potentate. His favorite activity was sleeping. Even though fresh water was available at all times in a dish, Chester preferred drinking running water, and would jump up onto the bathroom vanity and wait for someone to turn the water on for him. As he got older, and could not jump that high, he would sit on the floor at the vanity until one of us would pick him up so he could drink.
Chester was a big, orange and white cat with a very gentle soul. He tolerated other cats well, and enjoyed being cradled by my sister and petted.

On December 6, 2001 Barb came home to find Chester could hardly walk, and he seemed to be in a great amount of distress. She rushed him to the Vet's office and was told his kidneys were failing. So she made the heart wrenching decision that so many pet owners must make. She decided to have him put to sleep. After a tearful farewell, we buried him in the back yard, next to his sister Princess. Sleep well Chester!

This is the last picture we took of him, in his favorite sleeping spot.

Peaches was my baby lap-cat. She was an orange tabby with golden eyes who loved to sleep in my lap. She had the most endearing habit of sitting on the floor beside me, waiting for an invitation to come up. If I failed to acknowledge her soon enough, up came a little paw, and I felt a tap-tap-tap on my leg, arm, or whatever part of my body the little beast could reach. As soon as I sat back, she would jump up into my lap.

In this picture, Peaches is peeking into the kitchen, sitting on a small bookcase in the hallway. As I recall, I was preparing supper, and she wanted to see what was up.
At about age 14, Peaches started loosing weight rapidly, and always appeared to be hungry. (This was a cat who always waited until the others had eaten.) She was diagnosed with a hyper-active thyroid. I did not realize how common this condition was in geriatric cats, but research indicates it is quite common. We treated the condition with the same medication humans take. The first few time the pills were administered, we both got our exercise as I had to chase her around the basement. I finally found Friskies tender chicken cat treats. I recall, that Peaches almost crawled into the pack when I opened it, they smelled so good. With the assistance of treats, we were able to stave off the worst of the disease for three years. But the condition finally had it's way, and Peaches was put down on August 23, 2004 at age 17.