Saturday, September 15, 2007

Catless after all these years


Judy the cat died on Thursday evening. She had been off-feed for two days, but continued to drink water. Her head congestion was worse. Then she apparently had a stroke, as her back legs didn't work for a half day before her death. While we were watching TV in the evening, she came down, or fell down, the stairs, cried a few times, and died within ten minutes. OLGS (and I must admit, I, too) was touched by the thought that she wanted to be with us in her last moments.

It's amazing how still a dead body is. The notion that people are not dead, but only sleeping until the last judgment, must have been developed by someone who hadn't seen many or any dead bodies.

We are now catless for the first time in more than 30 years. It will be a while before we can replace them. Judy was a mighty huntress, even in her later years, although her victims got smaller and smaller. She seemed to specialize in baby rabbits. It was awful.

She was also amazingly sociable. At her last event, the neighborhood cookout on Labor Day, she sat in front of the grill, oblivious to the 25 people milling around. She was clearly waiting for something meaty to fall to the ground; she was very patient. We finally had to move her out of the line of traffic. She loved parties and being the center of attention.

She was a smart, smart cat. She had us eating out of the palm of her paw. We fed her shrimp, sour cream, and other tidbits. The boys loved her, especially Joe College Grad. He spent several hours patting and grooming her the day before she died. She went to the great catfood factory in the sky with an excellent fur coat.