SASSY

She was the last of the cats that we brought to Munster from Pullman. She was a small grey tabby female that showed up in our yard (in Pullman) back in 1993. She just stayed in the yard all summer and would wait for Marie to come home in the morning. She would roll on the sidewalk and let Marie pet her. If she got a bit excited she would nip at you. That how she got her name. She did have a collar, but She was sassy as the weather got colder we realized that she had no home and let her in. She turned out to have been fixed and front declawed. I often wonder if she got lost or left behind somehow. I am sure the owners must have grieved and never knew that she had a very long and happy life.
She didn’t like to play like the tomcats do, but loved to be sweet-talked to. She would just purr and purr and nuzzle and roll when you talked to her. She also took a liking to drinking water from the washbowl drip. We often left it dripping just for her and when she got older we would lift her up there to drink. She also loved to sneak into closets. Sometimes she got into a closet when we were getting a coat out and be there for hours before we realized where she went. She loved to lie in sunny spots and would move with the sun as the day progressed. Since she was grey and inclined to lie in the middle of the floor we really had to take care at night to avoid stepping on her as she was very hard to see. Sassy would often sleep by my head at night or even fuss until she could get under the covers. She often woke me in the middle of the night for a drink in the washbowl and always (to the last day) woke me at 6:30 AM for her treats, even on days when I did not have to get up that early. I never minded any of the wakeups.
She had an episode in the spring of this year, and we thought she might be going, but she recovered and was happy and active until last Thursday. We found her in some distress under the bed and comforted her. She recovered and resumed eating and moving around to her favorite places. We dared hope for a few more weeks or months. She was acting and eating normally most of yesterday, but I found her in the hall at about 3:30 PM lying still and gasping. I awakened Marie and we both petted her and talked to her until her last breath at 4:05 PM. We know that she had a very long and very happy life, but we will miss her in so many ways and we will love here forever.