Purrsia

Purrsia a.k.a. Spook

Purrsia joined the family in February of 1991 as a new companion for Fritz after the untimely death of Bailey. She was picked out of the display at the Humane Society, a quiet, sad, little grey kitten with magnificent orange eyes.

Like running water, she sought out the lowest point in our house and for the next three or four months we never saw her. We set food and water near where we thought she was hiding and it would be gone when we went back so at least we knew she wasn't starving. Marcus had named her Spook for obvious reasons. I called her Purrsia, since she had arrived during Gulf Storm when the area formedly known as Persia was much in the news.

One evening, Marcus and I were sitting in the family room watching the tube when a rustling noise at the edge of the sofa alerted us both. The minute we moved, she was gone again, but returned again the next night, and the next, until she was staying for longer periods. It was probably June before she finally stayed upstairs for good.

Purrsia is the quietest one in the family except when the can opener is spotted. She is also the one I know least. She is not cuddly and does not enjoy being held. She begs for attention but doesn't know what to do with it when she gets it. Only now is starting to enjoy it a little.

She tolerates James and has been spotted informing him that Fritz passed the reins of leadership to her. It remains to be seen whether James will tolerate this much longer.

Fast forward to March 2001. Purrsia began to have difficulty climbing stairs. She stopped eating and that was a sure sign that something was wrong. She began to lose weight and cried if you tried to pick her up.

A visit to the vet confirmed what we had suspected. Purrsia had a growth on her bladder and it was in all likelihood cancer. We could spent a ton of money to buy her a short time longer to live or we could let her go. The vet asked if we wanted to come for a last visit. Of course I did. They brought her to me wrapped in a large snuggly blanket. She was so happy to see us and let me hold her without any of the usual struggle. They came to get her and I'll never forget her eyes looking back at me over the shoulder of the attendant. She meowed one last time and then they disppeared around the corner.

I hope I can be as good a human as she was a pussycat.