We got Slippers when Alex was in first grade! (1999.) She was a rescue, but we knew she had come from someone’s home, since she didn’t act like a feral cat. We went to Petsmart and noticed they had cats to look at and we figured, “What the heck?” We would buy one if we found one we liked, but not if we didn’t. We were in the kennel and saw this tuxedo cat and asked to see her. They opened the kennel, and she came out and let us pet her. I was sitting on the floor and she came right up to me and sat in my lap, like she belonged there. That was pretty much it. We got a litter box, food, and all the stuff a cat needs, and brought her home.
For a long time, she was the only pet we had. She loved to sleep with the kids, and I swear that she would take turns sleeping in each of their rooms. She rarely meowed, but loved to be petted, and purred a lot. She was happy and friendly. If we had people over, we usually had to put her away if they didn’t like cats, because she loved people. She would rub against them, hop up to get scratched by them and eventually end up in their lap.
She endured us getting a dog. That stupid dog. The dog that would poo and pee in its own kennel after being in it for an hour. She would look at us and wonder what the heck we were thinking. The dog went back after a few months, because we didn’t know what to do with it. The dog had previously been abused and we had no clue what to do with that kind of behavior. We found out we were not dog people.
She endured us getting a kitten. A Siamese/Tabby kitten. A needy little kitten we named Millie. Slippers wanted to take care of her, but she was too psycho to let her. Slippers would lick Millie and Millie would submit for a minute or two, and then she would bat at Slippers with her paw, which would turn into a wrestling match and eventually into a chase-each-other-around-the-house scenario. Slippers was definitely dominant, but Millie always wanted to be number one.
She endured us moving to a new house. A whole new world to explore. She was able to open the attic door on her own several times and go explore the attic. She would even meow to Millie to let her know that she got it open and they could go explore.
We would put ribbons around her neck and tell her how pretty she was. Millie would just try to bite the ribbon off, but it was like Slippers actually knew what we were saying. She loved to have ribbons on, and I honestly think she thought she was the princess.
I always had yarn around the house, but happened to get a bunch of eyelash yarn for the scarves I made. One morning, I found my eyelash yarn strewn all over the living room, and a piece going into the other room and all the way up the stairs to the schoolroom. I knew it was the cats, but didn’t know who. This started happening more often, and one day, I heard this muffled meowing and went in the kitchen to see Slippers with the yarn in her mouth, carrying it around. She meowed and meowed and finally put it down to get a scratch behind the ears. I had no idea what she was doing, but it was funny. Every now and then you could hear her mournful meow and catch her with the yarn. David thought she was trying to carry her baby around, like mama cats do to their babies, so we gave her a skein of yarn for her own and called it her baby. She would get it out of her basket and carry it around every now and then. She even took to carrying some of the scarves I made–don’t worry, I washed them before I gave them away!
On Tuesday, on his way back to work, David accidentally ran her over. I have no idea why she was under the car and why on earth she didn’t move, but she didn’t. He came into the house and told me urgently that he needed to talk to me–in the bedroom. (That is serious, so I was nervous.) He told me what happened and that Slippers was still alive, but he didn’t know what to do with her. He knew her leg was broken, but we didn’t know what else. He and Alex ended up taking her to the Vet hospital. They found out her pelvis was broken in two places, plus her leg. The vet didn’t suggest surgery, although I’m sure they would have done it for thousands of dollars. (A college fund, is what David said.) We made the decision to have her put to sleep, as the vet suggested. David came to get Elizabeth and I and we got to see her sedated and not in pain. We loved on her and pet her and she loved every minute of it. She was purring loudly while we cried and told her how pretty she was and how much we loved her. The vet gently put her to sleep and then administered the Euthanasia drug and she slipped away from us. We got paw prints set in plaster and took her home to bury her in the back yard. Before we put her in the ground, I went to get her “baby” and David put it between her paws. Afterward, he told me we should have put a ribbon around her neck, but we forgot.
I know some people think that you shouldn’t get all upset over a “silly animal,” but that was one of the hardest things we have had to do. We all cried off and on all day–and are still sad about it. We loved her, and she was with us for almost 10 years. She was 2 or 3 when we got her, so when she died, she had lived 2 or 13 years, which is pretty good for a cat. I miss her so much. She was well loved by our family and had a wonderful 10 years with our family. At least she wasn’t in pain the last moments of her life and she was surrounded by the family that loved on her and pet her and gave her all the attention she wanted. The last time she would see us, she saw us loving on her.
Goodbye Slippers.