Tabby (correct name Tabitha, but she never got called that after the first week we got her) was a gray/brown tabby cat. Looked completely ordinary. Her brother Dusk, far outshone her for looks, he being a magnificant dusky gray color like that of twilight (which was the name of their mother.)

But Tabby had her own personality.

She was the 'talker' of the two, very vocal. Loved her belly rubbed, and had a very nice way about her. She would plop herself right down in the middle of a well travelled spot, and sit there expecting everyone to walk around her. Sometimes that didn't happen and she would make quite a fuss if she got tagged by a careless foot.

"Hey, you stupid human! I'm SITTING HERE! Open your eyes!"

She especially liked doing that in the upstairs hallway ... in the dark at night!

Stumbling to the bathroom at 3 am was a treat!

Yep, like I said, Tabby had personality.

Last year she got sick and she was diagnosed with Kidney problems and arthritis. We treated her for them with meds and special food and she perked back up. On the whole, she had a good year since that time, where she was still happy, still played and purred and lived a fairly normal cats life.

That was then, this is now. She has been failing quickly these last few weeks, but these last two days, she couldn't walk more than a few feet at a time, and then would sit down to rest. She had stopped eating.

It was becoming clear, that Tabby was not enjoying life anymore, and she seemed to be looking up and you could see her almost asking us to make her comfortable.

So we made the tough call, as any responsible person does for the little pet lives we take to love and care for. And it really wasn't so tough after all. She was ready to go, you could see it in her eyes, her body was just hanging on and not doing it well.

Sharon and I were crying, but we both knew it was right.

Dear Tabby was 15; pretty old for a kitty and she had a good life. She went to sleep this morning at 10:30 am, sitting on her favorite towel, Sharon's lap, being petted by the people who loved her. It was hard, it was sad, but it was right ... she isn't sick or hurting or tired anymore.

And if there is an Elysian Fields for kitties, she will play happily in the sunlight with her brother and all the ones who have gone before her, and purr sometimes when she hears us thinking of her.

For the dead can hear our thoughts of love, of this I have no doubt. Tabby is gone. Now we will go on, and love and cherish the other eight even more.

Tabby, daughter of Twilight, sister of Dusk, born sometime 1986, Died Sept-8-2001

---Bill and Sharon