In Memory of My Cat Precious

Generally this blog is about pop culture, but last night something happened that has changed my world forever. Last night my sister found our cat Precious dead in her closet. She had been missing all day. That was not unusual, as she was the sort of cat who liked nothing more than to find a nice cosy hiding place and go to sleep. This was especially true on chilly, rainy days like yesterday was. Precious was not a young cat. We estimate she was probably around 10 years old. And Himalayans only live to be 10 or 12 years old.

We got Precious in 2000, when she was probably around two years old. She was a purebreed Himayalan (or so we were told). The couple she came from had a habit of fighting and so she stayed hid for the first two weeks we had her. She hid under my chest of drawers. I would put food and water out for her. We had a litter pan right there. And I would take the drawer out to pet her. When she finally decided that my sister and I were not going to yell and throw things at each other, she finally came out after two weeks. For quite some time she would still run and hide anytime strangers (at least strangers to her) would come over, but to my sister and me she became a very loving cat. After about six months she stopped hiding even when "strangers" visited.

As I said Precious quickly became a very loving cat. She enjoyed sitting on people for hours and having her fur stroked. Being a longhair, she naturally loved to be combed and groomed. She had a disconcerting habit of when becoming overly affectionate of delivering "love nips," although she never bit very hard. Like most cats Precious liked to sleep with one of us when it was cold. This was nice as with her long fur and her size (she wasn't a small cat), she was almost like a small blanket! She also had one of the loudest purrs of any cat I knew. This was funny because her "meow" was so quiet one could barely hear it.

In some ways Precious was a cat of strange habits. She liked to sleep in the oddest places. She would sleep on top of cartons of soda, crates of bottled water, books, old newspapers... And she loved boxes (as the picture above shows). It didn't matter what kind of box it was or where it was in the house. Precious would find it and crawl in it. She also loved the old maple tree in the front yard. She would sometimes climb up in it and spend the better part of the day just sitting in it.

Precious also had odd tastes in food for a cat. She loved mashed potatoes and beans. but was not real crazy about milk (I guess that was the Siamese blood in her--Himalayans were created by breeding Siamese with Persians). Of course, like most cats she liked any kind of fish, especially tuna.

Precious got along well with her fellow cats for the most part. Her best friend was probably Monster (sadly gone too), who was about the same age as she was. Precious had an odd love/hate relationship with our cat Sis. She and Sis were always getting into it, but if another cat attacked Sis or another cat attacked Precious, they were the first to take it up!

Precious was an intelligent cat, too. She would come to her name, and she knew the names of all the other cats as well. When she was younger she would try to open doors until she learned she didn't have the strength to turn the knob.

Right now I am very, very sad. I will miss Precious immensely. She was one of the most loving cats I ever owned. She was the sort of cat who loved her humans immensely and was happiest when she was with us. I just hope she finds plenty of love in her afterlife.