This is Crystal, and she has been our cat for 15 years. She came to us from the neighbors who were making her an outdoor cat, and she kept "invading" our home.
We adopted her and kept her indoors and she would still love to go in and out at her leisure and cruise the neighborhood. Some crazy cat lady apparently would feed her when she wandered down to her house and we didn't know this and couldn't figure out why she'd come home to eat then throw it up! Only when we were leaving to go on errands and saw her at the cat lady's house did crazy cat lady confess she thought she was a stray (even with a COLLAR???) and was feeding her...
She was loud, noisy, annoying, always hungry (only to throw it up!) and independent. She had a damned attitude about everything and everyone. She would also find time to be affectionate and loving and allowing you her undivided attention. Usually when she was hungry...
I found this damned cat annoying. I kept remarking how I was gonna kill this damned cat if she wouldn't get out of my way, shut up, etc....
Saturday at 5:45 PM, we said goodbye. I've been taking it harder than I ever thought I would. I've attended family funerals and not lost my composure as much as I have with my animals when I've had to make "that decision". 2 dogs and now her. I'm not a cat person. Didn't think it'd hit me as bad as it has.
She had lung cancer and was having trouble breathing. I thought we'd have a week or so but only had 72 hours to spend.
As usual, she didn't want much anything to do with me, probably from having to take her to the vet. But in those last moments, she put her paw on me as if to say it was okay.
We're all hurting, but life will go on. Both kids have their own cats. But they had Crystal first, and they were reminded (like we all were) not to take our pets for granted.
Give your fur babies an extra treat and a hug. You never know when it will be the last time you get that opportunity.
