On a personal note: With Sadness We Announce the Passing of...

Molly the Cat

1998-Nov. 5, 2009

(Age 11)

Molly.  A cat who will have no problem resting in peace.

Molly held a special place in my heart.  When my ex-wife and I separated I wanted a pet for my daughter to play with when she would stay with me at my new apartment.  We tried a bird, but frankly, I dislike birds.  They're messy, noisy and I don't feel any warmth from their cold black eyes.  So off to a friend went the bird.

One Saturday my daughter and I were looking around the cat rescue at the pet store and there was Molly.  She was about 6 months old with nothing special to recommend her, just your run-of-the-mill grey tabby.  My daughter picked her because she was afraid Molly was so ordinary that nobody else would take her.  My girl is like that I'm proud to say.

Molly turned out to be the most rambunctious kitty I'd ever seen.  She would literally bounce around the furniture like a kid with attention deficit disorder after a bag of Halloween candy.  Thankfully, she calmed down as she grew older and when I remarried Molly blended along with the rest of our two families benevolently accepting dogs and cats and kids.

Molly never met a lap she didn't like, and had an unerring instinct for knowing when your bladder was full before leaping onto to it full force.   She was especially fond of mine when I was wearing dark pants or it was an intolerably hot day.  Molly had two unnerving looks.  The one she wore most of the time was that of someone who was witnessing a murder.  Another was the one that some cats do that make you want to look over your shoulder so you can catch a glimpse of the ghost that's surely there.  One of the things that was unique to Molly that I'd never seen in another cat was that she loved to be vacuumed. When the vacuum got turned on Molly would run out to sprawl and roll so Mrs. Funeral Guy wouldn't miss a single spot.

Molly and Mrs. Funeral Guy after a vigorous vacuuming.

About a month ago Molly reappeared after one of her frequent in-house vanishing acts.  Mrs. Funeral Guy picked her up and saw that she was alarmingly thin.  So off to the vet she went where after some x-rays and tests we were told that Molly had one underdeveloped kidney and one deformed kidney.  A genetic problem and a cause of infections, the vet said.  Molly seemed to rally after a round of antibiotics but when they were finished she was back to laying around listlessly and vomiting 2 or 3 times a day.  After a couple of days on the second round of antibiotics she couldn't even keep those down, so today it was back to the vet for the inevitable.  Quiet and peaceful as these things always are.  We should all be so lucky, I suppose.

Molly was a fine cat, and as the British say, "she had a good innings."  She'll be missed.

Survived by her family and her animal friends.  (Dogs) Cosmo, Crystal, Sadie and Spike.  (Cats) Katie and Winky.  (Ferrets) Belle and Boomer (2-Birds) Don't know their names and don't want to know.  And a snake (don't ask.)