19 great years and now she's gone
My cat Fushia has been a wonderful companion since 1989. I still remember the day we got her. Because of our family's love of cars, Dad, my sister and I were voting for the name Porsche but when it came to the official papers, mum thought we'd decided on a different name.
The sun was warm and we were all excited. At the breeders house, we had a marvelous time playing with the dozen kittens. However, we had already discussed how we would choose. Our order of preference was Lilac, Tortie, Cream, Blue and then Chocolate. The main deciding factor was the kittens behavior. Our little kitten chose us. Fushia was one of the only ones to come to us and play.
Fushia was our first 100% inside cat. Our two previous cats would be inside and outside. We decided for both her safety and that of native wildlife, that she would be restricted inside.
One of the most distinct memories I had was when we were moving house from Eve Road to Federation Court. We were about to put her in her cat carrier but she had escaped and climbed half way up a huge tree in the neighbor's front yard. I rigged up the cat carrier to a rope, climbed the tree, put her in the carrier, and lowered her to the ground. What a sneaky cat!
Our next cat was a tortie Burmese girl named Sheeba. She was wonderful and my parents decided to breed her for a litter so we could witness the cycle of life. Her litter of kittens I think was 4 boys and 3 girls.
The interesting thing we did with our pets was we got both Sheeba and our dog Orson at the same time so they wouldn't fight. Orson knew who was boss... the cat was boss! They got along very well together and that carried over to our next cat, Fushia, and to our next dog, Sebastian.
Fushia was a terribly interesting cat with a unique personality. Early on, she developed this habit of letting out a distinct mew whenever someone sneezed. She even learnt when we were faking to get her to do it.
During my marriage breakdown 2 years ago, she was particularly comforting. For the first few months, she would rarely leave my bed except for the necessities of life. I always found that she knew when I was upset or unhappy and she would come and cheer me up.
The transition from family cat to her being officially my cat came when mum was receiving allergy treatment to desensitise her to certain pollens. We discovered that although the treatment was working, it had the unfortunately side-effect of causing her to become allergic to Fushia.
This was enough to motivate me to do what I could to get my own house as she could no longer be around my mum without making her sick.
18 months ago I bought a house. Due to her insistence that closed doors are a personal insult, I installed a cat door into my bedroom to save my housemates the pain of hours of MEOW MEOW MEOW MEOOOWW.
Since moving to my own house, she has discovered the joys of laptops and the heat they produce through the keyboard.
She also discovered the nice warm UPS that keeps my server running in case of blackouts...
When you have had a constant companion for 19 years, it hurts deeply to lose them. As a memorial to how much joy she has brought me, I have asked my brother in law to bury her in the back yard and plant a fruit tree on top.
~ Fushia ~
The sun was warm and we were all excited. At the breeders house, we had a marvelous time playing with the dozen kittens. However, we had already discussed how we would choose. Our order of preference was Lilac, Tortie, Cream, Blue and then Chocolate. The main deciding factor was the kittens behavior. Our little kitten chose us. Fushia was one of the only ones to come to us and play.
Fushia was our first 100% inside cat. Our two previous cats would be inside and outside. We decided for both her safety and that of native wildlife, that she would be restricted inside.
One of the most distinct memories I had was when we were moving house from Eve Road to Federation Court. We were about to put her in her cat carrier but she had escaped and climbed half way up a huge tree in the neighbor's front yard. I rigged up the cat carrier to a rope, climbed the tree, put her in the carrier, and lowered her to the ground. What a sneaky cat!
Our next cat was a tortie Burmese girl named Sheeba. She was wonderful and my parents decided to breed her for a litter so we could witness the cycle of life. Her litter of kittens I think was 4 boys and 3 girls.
The interesting thing we did with our pets was we got both Sheeba and our dog Orson at the same time so they wouldn't fight. Orson knew who was boss... the cat was boss! They got along very well together and that carried over to our next cat, Fushia, and to our next dog, Sebastian.
Fushia was a terribly interesting cat with a unique personality. Early on, she developed this habit of letting out a distinct mew whenever someone sneezed. She even learnt when we were faking to get her to do it.
During my marriage breakdown 2 years ago, she was particularly comforting. For the first few months, she would rarely leave my bed except for the necessities of life. I always found that she knew when I was upset or unhappy and she would come and cheer me up.
The transition from family cat to her being officially my cat came when mum was receiving allergy treatment to desensitise her to certain pollens. We discovered that although the treatment was working, it had the unfortunately side-effect of causing her to become allergic to Fushia.
This was enough to motivate me to do what I could to get my own house as she could no longer be around my mum without making her sick.
18 months ago I bought a house. Due to her insistence that closed doors are a personal insult, I installed a cat door into my bedroom to save my housemates the pain of hours of MEOW MEOW MEOW MEOOOWW.
Since moving to my own house, she has discovered the joys of laptops and the heat they produce through the keyboard.
She also discovered the nice warm UPS that keeps my server running in case of blackouts...
When you have had a constant companion for 19 years, it hurts deeply to lose them. As a memorial to how much joy she has brought me, I have asked my brother in law to bury her in the back yard and plant a fruit tree on top.
posted by TheScream at
9:31 AM
2 Comments:
Hi Dave,
Sweet recollections of a lovely loyal pet.
Hope things get brighter for you.
Tan :)
By
The Burchell Report, At
September 11, 2008 6:15 PM
She was a wonderful friend and I miss her very much too. 17.5 years is a great age for a cat, so we were blessed to have her for so long.
By
Red, At
September 12, 2008 8:12 PM
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