A tribute to our Sassycat

The fall of 1998 when Dana and I got married, we got our first fur baby--Sassy. She was maybe 5-6 weeks old when wee got her. My had niece rescued her from a busy intersection in Tulsa and needed to find a home for her. 

We picked her up on our way home from Eureka Springs, where we spent our honeymoon. Sassy immediately took up with me, and was constantly under my feet, sleeping on my pillow, and riding on my shoulders. I was her security, and she lover riding around on her perch.

This is not a staged picture. I read whilst on the throne, and we actually have pictures of that too--however I chose to not post them. You are welcome.

She grew into a beautiful lady cat, and was queen of the house. Nothing but the best cat food for her, and her diet eventually evolved to fresh rotisserie chicken. Wal-Mart and Sam's made a killing on all the chickens sold to satisfy Sassy's addiction.

Eventually she got to big to ride on top of my head.

"WHERE'S MY CHICKEN?!?!?" She would actually screech out at us morning and night--and we nearly always obliged her. She and I had her language. She had a variety of different meows, and I'd mimic her and the conversation went on and on. There's no telling WHAT I was actually telling her, but she enjoyed the exchange. Dana always called her my other wife--and said that if she were a woman, she'd be wearing leather and cracking whips.

When she was not getting lap time, she was content to lay on my clothes--clean or dirty. She thought that no outfit was complete without being accessorized with cat hair.

She also had such expressive ears. When her ears were back, she was definitely irritated. 

She slowed down a lot in the past year. I first noticed she was not able to jump up on the bathroom counter to get her morning drink from the sink. She had a few efforts that came short, and I began lifting her up so she could drink her fresh water. (She HAD to SEE water come out of the faucet. No stale water for her!) Still--she was playful even though she was 17 years old. 

On Thursday, I noticed she was laying around and not following me around as much as normal. I lifted her up for her morning drink, and she drank to her fill, and then jumped down. I had a half day of work, and felt the need to come home to check on her. Once home, she was parked in one place, and did not want to move. I got her water again, but this time in a bowl on the floor. She again drank quite a bit. Dana said she had her morning chicken, and as it turned out, that was her last meal.

I knew her time was coming to an end. I found some stuff to watch on TV and gave her a couple hours of lap time. The faintly purrred, but her breathing was very light.

This picture was taken last December--and was one of her favorite places. Dana and I were gonna go out to eat, but we both decided we didn't feel much like eating. She laid in our laps for most of the evening, and finally around midnight we put her in her bed in the sunroom. She sprawled out and looked comfortable. Dana lay down beside her for an hour and then I took over and lay by her side and occasionally petted her. I noticed her eyes had glassed over, and she seemed to have lost her sight. She would meow every now and then--it sounded like a cry of fear. I'd pet her and tell her it was ok--I was there. I had waves of tears--it hurt so--losing another beloved pet. At 1:30, I went on to bed, and got up to check on her at 7:15. She had passed during the night. It was clear she had left us a few hours earlier.

I had work scheduled Friday, but we made time to fix a nice box up for her with her favorite cat bed and a artsy cat coffee cup which was HER water dish. We buried her in the back yard next to where we buried Scooter a couple of years ago. Sadness. But somehow, the sadness is not overwhelming. We had 17 1/2 awesome years with her. She never wanted for anything, other than a brief wait for her chicken. She lived a great life, and was a blessing to be in our lives. We miss her, and will never forget.