Goodbye Pretty Cat

Yesterday, I took my cat of 16-17 years to be put down. (The picture isn't of Ashley but it's the closest I could find to how beautiful she was)

Ashley was a very beautiful cat, with siamese type markings and a bit of tortoiseshell in her. She had the softest fur and the meanest attitude. I loved her to bits.

She had certain rules on how to deal with her. Break those rules and get scratched. Most of my friends have been scratched by her, and they call her devil cat from hell.

Rule #1: Never scratch behind the shoulders. She hated being scratched below the shoulders.
Rule #2: Never pet her near her private parts. I think she had a hard time after being neutered so the slightest move towards her lower body resulted in a scratch.
Rule #3: Never pay her attention for too long. She could only stand attention for about half an hour, maybe 45 minutes, but any longer, she'd scratch you.
Rule #4: Never ever forget that she's a lady.

Rule #4 was the one I broke constantly. But she had a long memory. If I laughed at her in the morning because she fell off the bed, sometime later, I'd get scratched, a little bit as if to say I didn't forget.

Nonetheless, she had the most wonderful fur and the loveliest face of all cats I've ever known. She'd lie on my chest on weekends, purring away in my face, and sniffing my lips when I'd make kissy sounds.

How I got her was kinda weird. At the time, I had a cat named Apollo and Apollo and I didn't get along at all. However, my then-roommate LOVED Apollo and since we had one cat already, when my roommate's sister had to get rid of Ashley, we took her in. Well, that roommate HATED Ashley from the start but I loved her. So, when we broke up the household, I asked if I could keep Ash and she keep Apollo. The rest is history. Ashley lived through four moves with me.

Goodbye my old friend. Keep a spot warm for me when I arrive in Hell, okay?