In Memory of Anny the Cat (2003 - 2019)

      On Thursday of last week, our long time pet Anny "the cat" passed away from what we believe was congestive heart failure. My wife was at work and I was at the gym when she first became ill, so many thanks to my son for handling the situation in a mature and compassionate way. Anny was a great pet. She rarely had any health issues, only starting to be a bit more hairball prone in the last year of her life. She was never super lovy, but would give purrs and love from time to time. She was a bit crazy for the first half of her life, but settled down in her old age. Some of my favorite memories are of her zooming up and down the stairs in our townhouse apartment in Kent, WA when we first found her and later at our house in East Tacoma she would zoom into the living room and up the Christmas tree. It was a fake tree so she could fit  right up to the top. Crazy cat!

      We found Anny, or she found us more like it, one cold Fall, or late Summer night, in 2003. It was right when I first moved to WA, and at that time, we hadn't really gotten around to talking about if we wanted a pet or not. We were out back on our little patio doing our weekend thing when we heard a little "MEOW' "oh look" a kitten. We didn't have any cat food, so I remember we fed her some bologna. "yeah cat's love packaged packed pig parts I've heard." A day or so went by like this when we heard a friend of our son's cat had some kittens. Wanting to do the right thing and find this cat a home, I scooped up the little gray and white kitten and marched down to the neighbors, hoping they would take the kitten back. They said it wasn't there cat, so even though I didn't know it, I now was holding our cat we would love for the next 16 years. We named her "Anny" for "Orphan Anny" of course and invited her in. Where she would stay, except that one time she escaped through an old drier vent to visit the neighbors male cat or she'd take a hasty tour of the yard, until this past Thursday.

      We miss Anny now that she is gone. There is a missing person in our house. We are slowly adjusting, but our other cat is having trouble figuring out where her part time friend and sometime enemy has gone. Rest in Peace Anny! We love you!