Our cats
On the weekend before St Patrick's Day, 2008, we adopted these two
lovely Abyssinians.
Cocoa is a 3 year old retired breeding cat. She is a beautiful and
playful Ruddy Abyssinian. Her eyes are green, but this is actually
red-eye effect!
Oppy, was 6 months old when he came to us. He was quite rambunctious
and loving. Sadly we lost him to cancer just a few weeks shy of his
fourth birthday. We were heartbroken.
Nightshade and Diabolo came into Pamela's life in March of 1988.
Echo joined the family in August of 1989. John signed up for cat litter
duty in 1994. All three cats developed kidney disease over time, but
still managed long and happy cat-lives. We miss them all dearly.
Diabolo
Diabolo was part of our family for almost 18 years. Diabolo is Birman
and definitely got the laid-back gene! This was his very favorite
spot in our place in New Zealand, and he's quite comfy, healthy and
happy in this photo. A combination of advanced kidney disease among
other things took Diabolo from us in the winter of 2006.
Nightshade
Nightshade is half Abyssinian, half Birman, but don't call her a
mutt to her face.
She spent a large amount of her time on John's lap. Nightshade also
developed kidney disease which was complicated by high blood pressure.
She lost her sight in 2004, as a result. She coped quite well with
her blindness and she was always quite capable of finding the sunny
warm spots in the house, and most importantly John's lap.
We lost Nightshade on Nov 26, 2007, a few months shy of her TWENTIETH
birthday. She hung in like a trooper until her final days, when she
seemed to just tell us it was time.
Echo
Echo was the baby of the family. As a younster, he had his fits of
hissing, but mellowed quite a bit over time until he became the sweetest
little lap kitty. He was very attached to Pamela (as she was to him),
and according to John, no one else existed in his little world. Echo
fought the hardest to stay with us. Echo passed on Jan 5, 2008 after
18 and a half years.
Who needs a blanket?
