Karen and Chispa (GA)
Very Active Member
After a rough day and night yesterday, Chispa is feeling much better -- just in time to celebrate her 18th birthday!! 
In truth, I don't know her actual birthday, but it was 17 years ago today that she came to live with me. The vet said she was about a year old. She had wandered into a barn where a friend kept her horse -- nobody knew where she had come from, but they soon decided she was "much too nice of a cat to be a barn cat." I tried to bring her home in a xerox box, but she fought like crazy to get out and finally succeeded, popping out of the hole she had clawed like a furry champagne cork. "Pull over!" I begged my boyfriend, thinking her next move would surely be to scratch our eyes out, but instead she went over and calmly stood in his lap with her front paws on the steering wheel. I guess she just wanted to know where her captors were taking her. Once we got home, she made a crouching, tactical sweep of the apartment with her belly an inch from the ground, ate 2.5 bowls of food, then jumped up on the bed and went to sleep. She was so brave, and so cute! We knew we would love her forever (he is XBF now, but still loves both of us).
Seventeen years is the longest time I've shared a home with anyone, other than my parents growing up. Chispa has filled those years with pure sweetness. A friend described her as "polite," not a word that I think of in connection with cats, but it fits perfectly. She's the most loyal companion, always nearby -- and she is also the toughest little cookie I know. I can't believe all that she's been through and still comes out fighting. The vet said at our last visit that "she looks 12, not 18." I'm not so sure about that, but she is definitely proof that it's all in the attitude (plus a very big dose of luck).
Here she is on a recent visit to the marina near our building -- she got all inspired at the sight of boats and burst into song ("Oh, what do you do with a drunken sailor, what do you do with a drunken sailor?"). Happy birthday, sweetest lady!
In truth, I don't know her actual birthday, but it was 17 years ago today that she came to live with me. The vet said she was about a year old. She had wandered into a barn where a friend kept her horse -- nobody knew where she had come from, but they soon decided she was "much too nice of a cat to be a barn cat." I tried to bring her home in a xerox box, but she fought like crazy to get out and finally succeeded, popping out of the hole she had clawed like a furry champagne cork. "Pull over!" I begged my boyfriend, thinking her next move would surely be to scratch our eyes out, but instead she went over and calmly stood in his lap with her front paws on the steering wheel. I guess she just wanted to know where her captors were taking her. Once we got home, she made a crouching, tactical sweep of the apartment with her belly an inch from the ground, ate 2.5 bowls of food, then jumped up on the bed and went to sleep. She was so brave, and so cute! We knew we would love her forever (he is XBF now, but still loves both of us).
Seventeen years is the longest time I've shared a home with anyone, other than my parents growing up. Chispa has filled those years with pure sweetness. A friend described her as "polite," not a word that I think of in connection with cats, but it fits perfectly. She's the most loyal companion, always nearby -- and she is also the toughest little cookie I know. I can't believe all that she's been through and still comes out fighting. The vet said at our last visit that "she looks 12, not 18." I'm not so sure about that, but she is definitely proof that it's all in the attitude (plus a very big dose of luck).
Here she is on a recent visit to the marina near our building -- she got all inspired at the sight of boats and burst into song ("Oh, what do you do with a drunken sailor, what do you do with a drunken sailor?"). Happy birthday, sweetest lady!
