Sad Sunday

Perhaps we should have expected it. Perhaps we did, but we were not ready for it to happen so suddenly. Early this morning we lost another beloved little friend.

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Our sweet, shy Sophia left us before 8 o’clock this morning and we buried her on the hill with her old friends, including her nemesis Tinkerbelle. Muffin’s grave separates them, but I don’t suppose it matters anymore.

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Poor Tinks. She was not a bad cat. She just had issues, which we suspect came from an unfortunate early experience.

Grant rescued her from a clueless neighbour long ago and Tinks was devoted to him. In his arms she melted. The problem was that she wished to be his only cat, so she regarded all others as interlopers that must be dealt with.

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It wasn’t a problem at the foster home back in Washington which had cat-dedicated quarters with separate rooms where we could pair up individuals that tended to get along.

“M” was equally dedicated to Grant but he was not intimidated by Tinkerbelle!

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Grant installed shelves and ramps in the cat rooms which were connected by a tunnel that could be opened or closed as necessary. The cats also had “trees” and cubby-holes and I had an extra window cut so everyone could see outside.

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Grant took several of the cats out for walks on a harness. The house was on a busy road, but we couldn’t have such a large number coming and going in any event.

Life was chaotic enough!

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It was actually Tom who had first dibs on Grant’s affections. As things worked out, he and “M” never met up because “M” died the year before we moved to Cambridge, which is where the remaining fosters merged into the general population.

In the new, very much smaller home, 6 cats that had been living in the foster quarters were now going to share with the seven that had been living upstairs in very much larger premises with us. Perhaps it was asking a lot, but as none of them, or us, had any familiarity with the new abode, we would all figure it out together.

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Both groups were used to being part of a gang and after their long journey from the West Coast, I think they were just happy to no longer be contained and in motion. We monitored carefully as they spread out sniffing every room, eventually choosing favourite spots with very little disagreement.

As expected, Sophia and her half-sister Patches stuck together, but in the new home Patches became more confident and soon began to roam by herself, which seemed to leave poor Sophia feeling defenseless against the more boisterous of her companions.

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Inevitably, there was a pecking order. Tom was the senior boy but he wasn’t in the least aggressive. He simply looked down his nose at the others with an expression that suggested: “Just try it!”

The only one who had the nerve to, predictably, was Dee Dee who promptly, on arrival, appointed herself House Manager.

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Lily had no interest in exerting her privilege as senior cat.

After she was abandoned by her sister, Sophia attempted many times to befriend Lily, following her around. Lily was always polite but would not be pinned down. Lily marches to her own drum.

It is rather sad that none of the 12 other cats that came to live with us here have ever been inclined to cuddle with another.

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Willow, Blackie, Lucy and Lily were mine meaning attached to me. Grant had brought Toby to be with me after my Panther died, but he, like Muffin, held allegiance to both of us.

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Muffin and Penny had come to us the year before the cross-country move.

We had immediately fallen in love with them both but Grant felt a particular bond with Penny that was obviously reciprocated. Penny attached herself to him like velcro without attempting to push aside Dee Dee or Tom.

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Or Colin, who was also very keen on their man. Poor Tinks. It’s no wonder she was a bit scratchy and since none of those guys were impressed with her complaints, she took them out on those who were less resilient like Lucy and Willow who in turn took it out on Sophia.

It was never anything at all serious, just posturing and occasional hissing. (Yes, and pissing!)

Tom left us in 2019, Colin the following year. Then we had three blessed years without loss. With the two boys gone, Grant began working to bring Sophia out of her shell, spending hours every night petting her until eventually she came to him asking for attention, climbing into his lap. And some months later she was happy to let me pet her too.

Lucy, Penny and Toby passed on in 2023, Patches the following winter and Tinkerbelle about 18 months ago.

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June last year brought the most unexpected surprise in the form of a young kitten which insisted it had come to live with us. No one appeared to have lost him and under no circumstance were we going to take him to a shelter, so we capitulated.

“Oh, really?” said Dee Dee. “That is moving in?”

He says it was she who persuaded him not once but twice to escape and go: long walkabout.

What was it? Oh yes. She told him to go look for his meow.

(Later on he found it when we had to round him up for his snip.)

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Little Man being such a young lad was occasionally cheeky to Sophia but since Tinkerbelle’s departure she has lived a contented life which has been a joy to behold, but last year she was diagnosed with kidney and thyroid disease for which there was no real help since medicating one would deteriorate the other, we were told. Sophia was 18 and we wanted her to live out her life without the stress of pointless medical treatments.

She was the dearest creature and we loved her very much.

God bless and farewell, sweetheart.