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Cassie
was born to a pretty, long haired calico, stray cat that John
adopted when he moved out on his own and had his first
apartment.
Her mother was very young and Cassie was the only
kitten to survive the birth. John raced the tiny kitten to the
vet when he realized she was alive. Both mother and daughter
became completely pampered pets.
Cassie
and her Momma were great friends. They played and romped and
entertained each other. After a long and happy life together, Momma crossed the Rainbow
Bridge a few years ago. John lovingly buried her in the back
yard.
Cassie
continued to be John's constant companion. She never really took
to anyone but John. The two adored each other and even seemed to
share a secret language. She was beautiful, petite, sleek and
graceful. She had such a personality and a "don't mess with
me" attitude. She only had to swipe you once with her
lightning fast, razor
sharp claws for you to respect her and fear her indefinitely.
Cassie ruled the house like a queen. Everything revolved around
her, including the daily routine. She would meow to let us know
when it was time to get up, and was relentless until EVERYONE
was up. We didn't need an alarm clock we, had a cat alarm, which
was much more reliable. One of her favorite things to do to if
you tried to ignore the cat alarm, was to come up and meow right
in your ear or sniff your eye! She loved to be petted in the
morning and would bump your hand, head or shoulder so hard with
her own head to start the petting process. Once
she had her breakfast and was assured that everyone was up for
the day, then she would curl up for a nice long nap.
After her
second breakfast, she would nap the day away,
moving from one favorite spot to the next. She loved to lay in
the sun or on her soft and tattered green blanket.
After
work she would be sitting on the windowsill watching for John to
come home and would run to greet him at the door. She would then
have her dinner and possibly another nap. After our dinner, it
was time for Cassie's "gut rub" as John called it.
Although she didn't like you to pet her along her back or head,
she loved for John to rub her stomach and expected him to do it
for hours on end. And he did.
She certainly knew how to get his attention. If she felt he was spending
too much time working with his computer, she would go into the
bathroom and meow loudly so that it would echo off the walls.
This was a good trick and always worked.
The bedtime ritual began with Cassie enjoying her midnight
snack while John and I got ready for bed. Just as we were relaxing
and almost ready to drift off to sleep......Meow! she would call
from downstairs. John would whisper loudly, "Cassssie".
The meowing and whispering would continue until the meows would
gradually shorten to almost a tiny cat-bark and the whispers to
just a quick "Cass" as she made her way upstairs and
jumped on the bed. Then she would try to decide if she wanted to
go under the covers or not.
She would make several attempts while we held the blankets up for
her to go under. The problem was, she would raise her tail
straight up and her head and body would slide right under, but as
soon as her tail hit the edge of the blanket she would not go any
further. It was reminiscent of how some stores attach poles to
their shopping carts so people can't get out the door with the
cart. Over and over this would go on until we finally lured
her under or she decided "No Thanks". Then we were
allowed to sleep peacefully for many hours until the cat alarm
went off once again the next morning.
Cassie was beautiful, commanding and had "cat-titude".
She and John shared an incredible bond for 16 years. We have many
wonderful memories of Cassie and she will be loved and missed
always.
When it was her turn to cross over the Rainbow Bridge, John was
there by her side, comforting her and whispering "Cassssie"
in her ear. He felt that since he was there for her at her birth,
he should be there for her at the end of her life too. He buried her wrapped with her favorite green blanket
in the back yard, right beside her Momma.
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