For the Love of Ivy

Although we knew the day was coming - she was over 20 years old - which is about 98 in people years it's never ever easy.

Weirdly it was like she was waiting for me to return from Edmonton before saying goodbye. She was very cuddly on Wednesday night and Thursday morning - ate her breakfast and then became listless as the day progressed, having trouble standing culminating in a couple of unearthly howls in the evening - which resulted in a trip to the vet.

With great care and much sadness we made the decision to prevent further suffering - a variety of tests and blood samples couldn't guarantee they would help her, the vet advised and after talking with him we noticed her getting further away from consciousness and her breathing becoming laboured.

Ivy was a character from the get go - a feisty little ball of fluff with bright blue eyes - born in an artist's studio at Harcourt House in Edmonton - with her three siblings, she was a beautiful cat. Her quirks included hanging off the screen door when she wanted in, climbing up our pant legs - hence her name "Ivy", eating through a plastic covered Angel Food Cake while we heard the rustling sounds when we were drifting off to sleep - loved playing and running through the house at high speed, skidding like a cartoon cat as she hit the landing on the way downstairs, leaping out at a boy walking down the street in her sideways "Hallowe'en" cat stance - causing not fear but hilarity in her "victim", hissing at the raccoons when we lived in Mississauga, cuddling in bed with her in the mornings and of course her vocalisings - more like "mrap" than meow.

Thank you for all the love and joy.