To Yeti

If you see my twitter and Facebook being flooded with pictures of a little white cat, it is because today Yeti is being put down.

Mom and dad say that she wasn't feeling well, not eating or drinking. They took her to the vet. Turns out all her organs are shutting down and she's dying. The vet can only make it happen painlessly and quick.

So afterwards, we're bringing her back home and laying her to rest amongst the roses she loved so much, by the house.

I remember bring Yeti home for the first time. It was after Lunamus died, we had gotten used to being a two-cat house. And we wanted a cat that would mentally stay young. So mom called all the pet stores and requested to be put on the notification list for simease- cross kittens.

I was walking home from high school, in my kilt and rowing jacket, when mom and Loren pulled up. "we're picking up Loren's cat," they said, and I got in. We were the first to respond, so we had the pick of the litter. And so we got the prettiest, more playful girl there.

She would climb up curtains and furniture, so Loren named her Yeti. Since I had Nibbles, an older cat that didn't like the young kitten, Yeti stayed in Loren's room for the night until Nibbles got used to her. At Christmas, she'd climb up the Christmas tree and sit in fake branches. As she got older, she loved to curl up under the tree and in boxes and corners.

Lately, she took to curling up at the foot of my paintings, which I found funny. I had used her temperament as inspiration for my character Kithara, and her colouring for another character, Joshi, both of Amhelaki Misadventures. The painting she liked was of those two characters.

 
She liked going outside and exploring, constantly getting into places where she shouldn't be. I've caught her sneaking downstairs into the basement, where the cats aren't allowed because of the sewing machines and because we keep it free of cat hair for guests with allergies. It was also routine to check a couple times a day where she was, especially at night. Once or twice, she did let locked outside for the night, but in the morning, she'll be on the porch, sitting on the rockers, waiting.

She loved sitting on the patio furniture, or in the flowerbeds by the house when she wasn't exploring the yard. She hunted birds, catching one last june, and bugs. When the neighborhood cats came by, she'd chase them off, but never got into fights.

She liked people, loved having attention and being petted, although only when she wanted it. She and dad had a routine; he would sit down to put on his shoes for work on the stairs, and she would circle around him, purring and then crawl into his lap. They would sit there for a while until she would jump off and he would go to work.

For everyone else, if she rubbed your leg and purred in the kitchen, you could pick her up and cuddle with her, but she fully expected food afterwards. Elsewhere, she's walk away and expect you to follow her to where she curled up. There you could pet and comb her, but not pick her up. She would just wiggle out of your grip, and jump down, or else walk down your back and jump.

She liked exploring too, would get into the neighbor's yards and then run back when she heard our door opening. Couldn't keep her on a leash or collar; she was double jointed and very flexible, would just slip through it. But we didn't worry, once we found that she knew the boundaries and didn't go near the road. She liked to go out the front door, and then circle around the house to the back to be let in.

The two times she stayed on her leash was when we took her for walks. Once, to the lemoint point conservation area. She'd walk for a bit, then stop to check out things off the path. Some times we'd carry her, when it looked like she was tired. Second time, we took her on a walk to the convience store for milk. She was doing the same for that, but the way back she walked the entire way, in the lead.

Even though she'd wander the longer she was outside, she always came home.