My good friend Jeremy’s cat passed away recently. Due to complications from renal failure and hyperthyroidism (something Miette suffers from now), Cally had to be euthanized. She did have a good run of 17 years (85 for a human) and was Jeremy’s main pet in all the years I’ve known him.
She thinks she’s invisible to us dumb humans.
I got to know Cally over the years. She was usually rather skittish around those she didn’t know but the years, I think I gained her trust. After the Jeremy and Tina divorced, Cally was noticeably more social with me. No more running away when I walked into the house and Cally liked being petted while I visited her on the tower.
Unlike my cats, Cally got along with Kristin’s duo Porkchop and Cookie well; I never saw any fights or cheap shots when they walked by each other. I’m confident she missed her old buddy Pixel (Tina’s cat) too.
Cally’s decline must’ve been pretty quick. I had seen her over the last year and she seemed rather normal. Vying for lap time against Cookie while I was attempting to babysit Ben. I’m way better with cats than infants!
I will miss the little girl. There’s something about brown tabbies which makes them extra special to me. They’re fiercely all cat, domineering yet do silly things in private and incredibly loyal to their humans. Cally was no Molly but I’m sure they had more in common than they’d admit.
Cally’s favorite sleeping position.
One extra special thing about Cally was her 15 minutes of Internet fame. A few years ago, she had surgery and wouldn’t stop grooming the area that needed to heal. The cone wasn’t entirely effective. Frustrated, Tina bought a baby onesie, cut the bottom out so Cally would keep using the litter box (plus the tail) and stuffed the cat into it. The expression on Cally’s face was what made the photo priceless. To this day, if you go to Google and type in the phrase “cat in pajamas,” you’ll see Cally turns up in the top 10. Don’t believe me, try it. You’ll know which picture. It’s the brown tabby with a cone around her neck and the rather peeved look.