Alice came into our life right after my wife’s cat, Lucy, passed on back in 2008. Yesterday, in our home with the help of a in-home service, she passed on. She was 18 years old.
The image above is our first of her. She’s in the shelter and is about a year old. I spotted her playing and was instantly smitten. We don’t know why nobody picked her at the shelter but we consider ourselves very, very lucky to have been able to bring her into our lives.
When we brought Alice home she marched right into the house and sat with us on the couch. No hiding under the bed or in the closet for this lady. Later that evening she slept between us in bed. Clearly she said to herself when she arrived: “Right, I’m home”.
Below is her favorite bed with a warming pad underneath it. We had a jade plant by a window so we slide the bed right there. She loved it. Warm, comfortable and able to watch the action. Below is an image of her luxuriating under the jade plant.
In 2011 after reading an article about it, I got the idea that Alice should get her ‘face in space’, so I submitted her name. Below is the certificate confirming that, in fact, her face was in space.
Around 2012 Alice started having painful GI cramps and they were diagnosed as ‘Irritable Bowel Syndrome’. To get a true diagnosis the vets insisted on an operation on her. A pretty serious procedure. We wanted to avoid that and my wife skillfully managed the symptoms successfully with food options for a time.
Alice was disappointed in this development as we had a machine, “the food god”, which delivered three square meals a day of kibble. She knew exactly when the clock went off and had perfected a move any gymnast would be envious of to get off the top of the machine and start eating from the bowl. Once she started on the new food kibble was off the menu but…she never forgot about kibble and it was always her favorite.
Eventually, we did the surgery, confirmed the diagnosis and then we were able to get meds to manage the condition. I spent a couple of weeks with her on the floor in my office to make sure she recovered. She took those pill form meds, every day, with very few complaints for the rest of her life. Every night we would flip her into our lap, pop one or two pills into her mouth and off she went to grab her dinner.
In Alice’s view I was A-OK but my wife? Oh, she was the BEST. As my wife likes to say she was Alice’s mama. Whether watching a show on TV, sitting in front of a fireplace or simply in bed there Alice was hanging out next to her or in her lap.
As you can see Alice was quite the cat, clearly, well-loved and she gave it all back to us a bazillion times over.
Alice was wicked smart, very social, lots of fun, a lover of sunbeams and a connoisseur of snuggles. Her personality filled a giant space in our home.
It is very rare to have such a wonderful soul enter your life. She’s gone now and that space is empty. She will be deeply, deeply missed.
