The Month the Cats Died

Wow, I guess that's how I'll remember December 2008. First Milo, now Matilda is gone. We were at the Humane Society yesterday to pick out a cute kitten to sorta/kinda replace Milo - at least to provide a little playmate for Oliver so he would hopefully stop torturing Matilda - she would have nothing to do with his attempts at playing. Our new little male gray kitten (no name yet) will be ready for pick-up Monday, after a small operation (if you know what I mean).

So we were hanging out at home for a while before we realized we hadn't seen Matilda when we arrived back. Found her dead on the floor beneath her favorite window perch. Wow. We have no idea when it happened but neither of us heard a cry or a thump of any kind so assume it was while we were out. She was already pretty stiff.

She was fairly old and crotchety the last few years although we're quite certain she was just 2-3 months old when Juan rescued her from the railroad warehouse in 2000 and brought her home. That would make her just 8 years old at her death, and that's not really old for a cat. But she hadn't been herself since Oliver came to live with us and that was by choice. She chose to be intolerant and fussy and we did our best to honor her space issues and give her separate attention.

During a vet visit in 2002 the doctor warned us she had an untreatable heart murmur and could drop dead at any time but after a few months we dismissed that as unlikely. But I expect that's what got her in the end. In her sweetest years she was my exercise buddy and would do yoga stretches with me and leg lifts on her own little exercise mat. Juan taught her to open the snack door in the kitchen and we'd hear the bang from other parts of the house which meant time for her snack. If our response wasn't swift enough, she would bang it again until we came. Her favorite manipulation while we were in the vicinity of the kitchen was to give us her "sweet" face (just like Puss-n-Boots in the Shrek 2 movie), which also meant snacks were required.

I'll miss Matilda. But I think she's much happier now in pet heaven with Milo than she was here with us. Sorry, Matilda.