the way cats go

Remembering Dead Kitties

collage

7 inches wide x 7 inches high

Bob was afraid of the wind. He would spin in circles in the yard looking for whoever was trying to touch him.
Donkey was Bob's mother and was sort of dumb and nasty, except that she was an excellent hunter and kept the house empty of mice.
Annie was blind in one eye, had a stump of a tail, and was tormented by Lizzie.
Lizzie Borden was a Violet English Blue—or something like that, with no papers, of course—who tortured Annie. When I had to give them away, I separated them. Lizzie died soon after of unknown causes. Annie lived for a long time and, according to reports and photos, was happy and relaxed.
Motor had one eye (the other was surgically removed, although no one knows when or why, especially because he came from a neglectful household), couldn't meow, but whose purr could be heard three rooms away, hence his name. He was smart, skinny, could do the 3D things necessary for a cat to be happy, and was just the bestest critter. I had to have him put to sleep, and the vet let me help with a necropsy to see why he died, but nothing was definitively wrong. I think he was much, much older than we all thought because he was so little and agile and lively until he couldn't stand anymore.
Lumpy got very sick and wouldn't eat anything. He spent a couple of weeks on my bed, waiting for me to come home from this summer's travels. After a few days in the hospital, he finally got depressed and didn't want to look at me. He got put to sleep, too. The hospital sent me a condolence card signed by everyone who had had something to do with Lumpy's care.

The lizard was a toy that Motor wanted to play with, but I didn't let him. However, when Lumpy showed up, he claimed it, and I gave in. He would go "kill" it, then bring it to me as though it had been alive and was now his gift. Nicky, who is still alive, brings real animals up from the basement. I don't know what he thought of Lumpy's hunts. Lumpy thought they were real.

And that is the Way of the Cat.