Happy Halloween Week! This is mom's favorite holiday and thank Cod that she doesn't try to put us in costumes!
We told you about Zoe, our friend in South Africa, who crossed the Bridge. Her human mom, Sheila, told our mom Zoe's story and we would like to share it with you:
Zoe came to me at 4 days old.
She was with her mom and three siblings.
I was going to foster them until they were old enough to be
re-homed. There were two Calico girls
and two black and white boys – Mom was a
Torti. Sadly one of the little
boys died. The kittens quickly grew and
were very playful and eventually met all of my own cats. One that was especially loving towards them
was Moppett a Calico long hair who I had already rescued.
One of my German Shepherds also took the kitts under her wing and
used to wash them and let them sleep cuddled up to her.
A friend of mine wanted the little Calico long haired girl and another friend took the mom and remaining
boy. That left Zoe, so I decided “what
was one more” and she stayed. Right
from the start she always slept on my head a night and would “make biscuits” in
my hair.
For some reason or other she was always a scaredy cat and whenever
anyone visited she would disappear. The
only people that she trusted and loved was me and my husband. When my daughters visited they would always
go into the bedroom and spend some time with her making friends.
When I decided to keep her, I had just lost my 19 year old tortie,
Ziggy and I wanted a “Z” name in honour of Ziggy, and so she became Zoe. Moppett was the mother figure in my bunch of
6 and they would all congregate around her on the bed and sleep together during
the day. Zoe fitted in very well.
When we decided to move from Johannesburg to George, in the Southern
Cape, all of the cats flew down together and went into kennels, the 3 dogs
travelled with my by car. They all
settled in very well.
It was while we lived in George that Zoe had her one and only
adventure outside of the house.
Something frightened her and she ran outside. I knew she would be terrified but there was
no sign of her. She was hiding
somewhere in the garden. I stayed up
until the early hours of the morning with the front door wide open and a dim
light shining to try to entice her back inside. At about 2 o clock she crept back
inside. WOW! the relief I felt, it’s impossible to
describe. She NEVER ventured outside
again.
It was whilst we lived in George that my only tom became ill –
Gandalf. He was a black smoke Maine
Coon, such a lovely boy and although he spent a long time on a drip – sadly he
didn’t make it. He was such a loss. Soon after he passed we decided to move to
Cape Town and so all of the cats, once again went into a cattery whilst we
moved. Once we had settled into the
house it was time for the cats to arrive -
I was so happy! They all spent
time “sniffing out” the new place and all except Chui (my Bengal) were all
happily settled in, Chui of course had to spend hours and hours trying to
escape the confines of the garden. But
after her adventures in George (another story) she soon became satisfied with
her new garden and house.
Zoe was a great hunter and often, in the early hours of the morning
we would hear her dreadful call to tell us she had something new to show
us. She always took her new “capture”
into the bathroom. It could be a mole,
a frog, a lizard…. and sometimes a baby snake.
She would stand over her prey either in the bath or in the shower – very
proud! Meanwhile we had to get up and
dispose of her new find – somewhere or other.
As the rest of my bunch slowly grew smaller, due mainly to old age
illnesses, Zoe eventually became the only one left – my baby! As I said earlier she was a very nervous cat
and when my husband became ill and I had to have carer’s in the house to help
look after him – I think it all became too much for Zoe, who was already in the
early stages of kidney failure. I think
the stress of different people coming and going exacerbated the illness and 6
weeks after my husband passed on, Zoe went to join him. She stopped eating and
although I syringe fed her she got thinner and thinner and less and less
active. The last night she wouldn’t
sleep with me in bed she was hiding – a sure sign that she had no long. I had to let her go. It was devastating for me – for the first
time in my life I had no cat.
Unfortunately it is not possible for me take on another cat, even an
older one, because I have a very “prey
driven” GSD and I just would not take the risk of taking in another cat with
him.
And so, at 16 yrs and 2 months, my lovely Zoe is gone and I am heartbroken –
as I have been every time that one of my furbabies leaves - they take a piece
of my heart with them.
Fly high baby Zoe and join all of the others up there waiting for
me.
Thank you, Sheila, for sharing Zoe's life with us.
