Sweetie was an outdoor cat. She was Gracie's littermate.
As an outdoor/feral cat, she was one of the two survivors of a larger colony that had been wiped out by coyotes in 1998. She was trapped later that year and spayed. But she never adjusted to being an indoor cat and, several months later, she rocketed out a cracked door into the yard and freedom. But she loved Teddy, an indoor cat, and she would wait for him to come to the door and shmooze with him.
She would let my friend pet her and, a few years ago, Sweetie began to let me pet her. Other than being adamant about being outdoors, she had a very nice disposition and lived up to her name. Unless there was a bad storm, she would show up for breakfast and supper. She would sun herself by lying in the flowerbed next to a basement window. Besides the stack of chairs that she loved to lie on, there was a small doghouse which was outfitted with a cat bed for her.
She was ancient for an outdoor cat. She was finding it harder and harder to get around. The last few weeks, she was looking pretty shaky. The winter probably took all she had from her. The last time we saw her was ten days ago; I fed her supper and scratched her head. We haven't seen her since and, after five days, it was pretty clear to us that Sweetie was gone forever.
This last weekend, we took her chairs and the dog house to Goodwill (after washing them) as it was painful to see them and maybe someone else can use them.
Farewell, Sweetie. I hope you're someplace where you can run and play with your friends. See you at the Rainbow Bridge.
6 comments:
Sorry for your loss. We had several outdoor ferals, trapped and spayed or neutered all of them. Just as the sweetest of them, a little girl we named "Tang" for her color, was getting touchable, she died on the road. And we lost a mostly indoor cat this month, Smidge decided he would no longer share space with a dog and vanished. Leaves such a hole in the old heart.
So sorry. We are feeding a feral kitty who's pregnant and I built a nice box for her and lined it with paper and towels. We hope when the time comes she uses it. Feral cats are difficult once they taste that freedom they all want. Our indoor cats press their noses to the window when the Porch Kitty shows up. We've had ferals before but this one is an angel. Good that you had what time you had with Sweetie.
Condolences, Comrade.
Cats are special.
We're down to 2, have had up to 5 at a time. Some of them feral. Our 2 now are outside cats that come inside to eat and cop a lap in the evening.
Take care.
I wish you peace.
Sorry for your loss, and thank you for being kind to her.
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