Goodbye Savannah

Well, I don't want to write this post but for some reason it seems like I need to. The week we left for Michigan our cat left too and hasn't come back. Tomorrow it will be 4 weeks. She did this to me once before. She ran away and came back three weeks later smelling like a garage and about three pounds lighter. But for some reason I just don't think she will be back. We have been to the Humane Society and made a report, I put on Craig's list a missing add and there is nothing at the leasing office about a missing cat. I can't imagine that she could make it locked up in a garage or something in this heat. One time she even went into my neighbor's house when it was vacant and the owners dropped by and a lady came over to get a box and shovel. She said there was a dead animal in her house. She said it was weird because she found poop in her tub. When she said that I knew it was Savannah. She is semi-potty trained. There she sat frozen in fear in a closet. She was fine obviously but the neighbors I think thought I was crazy. Ever since the first time she went missing she has made a point to stroll by the house when we get home to let us know she is around. This time nothing. So I thought I would do a little eulogy.

Savannah was born August 26, 1999. She was the third cat I had gotten since moving into my own house. She was sort of an accident. I had two cats, one of whom wasn't even six months yet. I had this friend, Georgia, who rescued cats. She and my sister were at an ice cream place in Whitehall and their they found Smokey. I don't know how they knew she was lost and needed rescuing but they did. Georgia was a responsible owner and would take the pets to spayed or neutered. When she got to the vet for the procedure they told her the cat was pregnant. She couldn't abort the kittens, but she knew her husband would not want the kittens as well as the cat. The vet told her their would only be two kittens. So she went home and told her husband I would take one and it would be easy to find someplace for the other one. She then told me that I was getting a new kitten.

I waited and waited for what seemed like forever, but one morning I got a call at work that the kittens had been born. Three total and there were two gray and one black cat. I went over right after work. Oh they were so sweet. Even with their eyes closed and their claws sticking out. I picked Savannah out right away. She was very outgoing. She was the first to escape the pillow barricade we had made by their mother and the first to leave the box they were living in. I decided to name her Savannah because I was reading The Work and The Glory series at the time and thought it was a nice name. It was also cool because I got her from Georgia. Here are some pics from when she was a few weeks old at Georgia's

Isn't she just a doll. Like I said she came as an adventurous kitty. She quickly made friends with my boy kitty Gid. Who was also an adventurous lad.

She was so pretty with green eyes and tiger stripes. Her tummy was a warm cream color and the fur there was perfect for rubbing. Which may be why Matt liked her so much. He is allergic to cats and naturally more of a dog person, but when we decided to decrease the number of cats for his health he chose Savannah to stay. He won't admit this now but when all three lived outside and we had to feed Savannah her special food, he would let her come in the house and hang out and pet her while she ate.

At first I thought she would not adjust to Matt because she peed all over our couches, then she pooped in his air intake on his car so his car smelled like a litter box and it took us a long time to figure out why. Then when we got a dog she was so good to him. She let him drag her around and play with her and lick her fur. She really came into her own being the only kitty.

She didn't even mind when Aidan came along and took "her" room. She did sleep in his crib a couple of times but who could resist such a nice empty bed. She loved Aidan to pieces. The older Aidan got the closer they got. Aidan started to follow her around and she never seemed to mind when he used her as a pillow. She would just lay there and let him pet her.

I would be remiss if I didn't mention her wild side. For all of the taming and potty training, and sleeping in comfortable beds that she did, she was still wild. She loved to be outside. She used to kill many an animal. She took over the neighborhood cat mafia when her older sister Saskia left. She would sit up on top of the car and hold court. Then neighborhood cats would come over and sit on the slightly lower trash can and talk to her I think. She didn't have front claws but somehow she managed to keep order in the neighborhood. You always knew when she had been on the roof of the car because you could see these tracks where her little paw prints were smeared as she slide down the front windshield.

What a character. There are so many more stories to tell. She was afraid of strangers. She hid every time I took her to the nursing home with me. Usually in an impossibly small space. She spent a good part of the move to Kansas sitting next to me on the passenger side window ledge (if you can call it that) with her mouth open panting. Matt and Aidan couldn't stop laughing at her.

I had so many nicknames for her. Most of which Aidan had picked up. I called her Vannah and mee, mee usually. She didn't start out with a middle name. But one day when she was being naughty Savannah Marie just came out of my mouth. I say it is because I had to think of a naughty person's middle name. My Aunt Christina's middle name is Marie. Take it for what it is worth.

Well, I guess I will end with this sweet picture I found of her last night. She is sitting in her favorite place. It just seems like it could have been taken any day or time, even yesterday. We will miss her so much.