Joepie 4 years ago (at 17) in the garden
I think she was 6 weeks old when I first ‘got’ her and we actually assumed that she was a little boy. It’s notoriously hard to see with little kittens if they are male or female, so we mistakenly named her Joepie, thinking she was a boy. But the first visit at the vet it turned out to be a little girl and not a little boy. As little as she was, she kept chasing after Lapje my older cat (2 years at the time) to Lapjes’ irritation. She was covered in fleas that little kitten, as she came from a – well, let’s say – less then clean family. I always like to think that I rescued her from a life of misery…. I mean; if you let your animals shit in the living room, there must be something seriously wrong with you, don’t you think?
She never was a cat to sit on your lap, but she would always sit very close instead. Either on the edge of the seat or – if you were cooking – right behind you on the floor. You learn to make sure that you do not step on the cat! When she was 6 months old, she got pregnant. Far too young for a little kitten to have a nest of little babies and also too young to be sterilized but out of the two the sterilisation was the better of the two, so that had to happen and is part of the reason why she always stayed fairly small for a cat.
See the black and white behind me? That's Joepie! 9 years ago
I am guessing that you must know by the title, that she is no longer here…
Last night we went upstairs and out of habit Tom always checks the spot where Joepie sleeps which is in the attick. She was there allright and at first we laughed because of the silly way she was lying, but then Tom noticed her making little noises and she had her eyes open. We knew then that it was trouble. It was late so we had to call the emergency service and had to go to a vet that was on call duty. I mean, we knew straight away, that it was the end of the line. It was clear from the way she was lying that she had a stroke or something along those lines, as she couldn’t get up and was basically almost paralyzed. And even though you know that after 21 years it is bound to happen sooner rather then later, the actual event still catches you by surprise.
We loved her dearly and will miss her enormously as well, but she had a good life, a great life and will always be remembered. For some reason she never really photographed very well, so not a lot of good photos of her, but here are a few of our little black and white monster.
Hugs to you
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