Thursday, February 05, 2009


Celebrating Molly....

Last night, Molly, our gray cat passed away peacefully. She was an old gal and had not been ill at all. She was a feral cat who had been rescued from a wood pile many years before I arrived here and was part of a "blended cat" family. When my husband and I married, we had a total of four cats that we inherited from previous lives.

They are all gone now. The oldest lived to be over 20 and the youngest, Molly, must have been close to eighteen. The other had been ill at their end of their lives. One died from eating tainted cat food. We miss them all.

Molly was unusual. She had spent her life hiding and being skittish. The first year I lived here, I seldom saw her. She hid in a closet all day an only came out to use the litter box and eat at night. Her nervousness caused her to have compulsive-obsessive licking at times and she would develop bald spots.

After she became "the only cat," she blossomed into "Princess Cat." She had a total personality change and it was a great personality. (I will not regale you with Molly stories but know there were some good ones.) Her coat was extremely soft and luxurious and she lost her nervous habit of licking.

The above picture is not a good one photographically but this is how Molly and Hank enjoyed the cast iron furnace vent. We called it "hanging around the campfire." The blower is on and Hank's hair/fur is "blowing in the wind." We have to keep a "cage" over it or we will not get any heat from it in the room as they really loved "camping" on top of the vent and making for a very cold room!

This winter I have surrounded the vent area with rugs and pet beds. Some would consider this unsightly, but they both loved sleeping there. As you can see, Hank is quite small.....much smaller than any of our cats.

Yesterday she enjoyed a very good day. She had a treat ...a Swedish meatball finely chopped. She was getting very slow these past few weeks. We knew she was fading away.

We couldn't find her after dinner. It took a while because she had gone to a far corner of the house as animals are prone to do. Unlike our other cats, she had never been ill. She was simply old.

Today I celebrate Molly and all pets past and present in my life --and yours. They ask for so little, they give us so much. While it is sad when they leave us, they leave us with fond and happy memories of their small lives.

9 comments:

elizabeth said...

Such a beautiful cat, I'm sure you will really miss her. Eliz

Anonymous said...

Molly will be welcomed by many loved ones waiting at the Rainbow Bridge.carol

KittyAnn said...

Oh my, I am so sorry to hear of Molly's passing but am grateful she was not ill at the end. May your memories of Molly be sweet. Best, Ani

Eileen said...

Awe... I am so sorry. You didn't mention a word about her not being well.. and I see now that she wasn't. I'm sorry I missed you earlier this morning.. I'll catch up with you in email..

AngelMc said...

I'm sorry. I know you will miss her. Animals can just make such a place in our hearts.

LouAnne said...

It's never easy to lose our animal companions. I'm sure you have both sweet and silly memories of Molly and they will carry you along. I don't know if it's any easier when they are not ill or not. We've had our share of losses here and none of them were easy.

April said...

Helen:
I'm so sorry about Molly! I had no idea. I was still worrying about you and your tooth. And now your dear Molly...It sounds like you gave her a wonderful life- from pauper to princess. I bet she is watching over you and her friend, Hank, right now.
That love never dies. I am thinking of you- I know how hard it is, April.

tangobaby said...

What a beautiful cat. I'm glad you two found each other and shared some wonderful times. Pets are such amazing people, aren't they?

A hug for you.

paris parfait said...

So sorry to hear about Molly! Sounds like she had a happy life with your family.