The Last Cat Post

I took this picture of our cat last March. It is significant because it apparently will be the last one I ever take of her. It seems we have lost our Olivia.

This past spring, Olivia was exiled permanently to the outdoors after three consecutive days of wetting on the kitchen floor. During rainy weather, there were a couple times when someone in the family took pity on her and allowed her back in for a period of time, but she was pretty much an outdoor cat. Nearly every morning by about 6 am she was meowing at the door. Once in a while, we wouldn't see her for a day or two, but she always came back. Now we haven't seen her for an entire week. It is quite possible that another family has adopted her, but it just isn't like Olivia to not come back home.

We acquired her about 9 1/2 years ago. My mother-in-law was moving to an apartment and needed to find a good home for her. My husband kindly decided to take her in. That day, I got a phone call at work informing me of the new addition to the family.

Not long after this, the cat scratched my baby boy (granted, it was self defense since he pulled her tail) and also left a couple messes on our carpet. Which I had to clean up. It was at this time that the cat and I developed a love-hate relationship. I hated her and she loved tormenting me. Sometimes she would park herself practically on my foot and I wouldn't even know she was there until I tried to walk.

There were times when I did appreciate her presence. When we first got Olivia, we lived in an apartment that had a mouse problem. Within a few months, the mouse problem was gone. Often, she would leave a dead rodent outside the front door. She apparently thought we needed to be fed by her. On one occasion, she deposited a small fish near the door (apparently swiped from a neighbor cat's dish) and I also remember her catching a live bird. With the bird still in her mouth, she asked to be let in. I politely told her no and a few minutes later, the bird escaped. Yes, she was quite the little huntress in her day.

Although Olivia drove me crazy, she provided a number of humorous moments. Ah, the many times I tried to convince her that the food dish did not disappear, it had simply moved temporarily. (See "A Cat's Life.") The numerous occasions she fell down the stairs because we couldn't convince her to stop sleeping on the banister next to them. (See "Olivia--The Supercat?")

I sometimes felt like I was carrying on a conversation with Olivia even though I was obviously doing most of the talking and she was mostly staring. I will now entertain you (hopefully) with one of these so-called conversations and what I imagined she might be saying.

Olivia: Um, excuse me. I want to eat and my food dish is missing.
Me: Oh, I just moved it over here so I could mop and vacuum the kitchen floor. See, here it is.
Olivia: (blinks) Uh, yeah. My food dish is always in this spot and now it's gone. I need you to bring it back.
Me: It's right here. (I pick it up and shake it)
Olivia: (blinks again) Yeah, so if you could find my food dish and bring it here so I can eat, I'd appreciate it.
Me: Oh, forget it. I need to vacuum.
Olivia: AAAAAH! Big noisy thing! (runs away)

So here is my tribute to Olivia. I tried to keep it upbeat because she did have a long full life.

Besides, there is still a small chance she will decide to come back and surprise us all.