Maisey May passed away in the morning hours of Monday, June 30th, 2008 at the age of 17. As cats age 6 years for every human years, this would have made her the equivalent of a 102 year old human.
Maisey was a Scorpio born in November, 1990. She was born in Big Spring, Texas to a cat that was owned by a coworker of mine at the time. This cat would or could not feed her kittens so Maisey was bottle fed. My co-worker invited me over to see the kittens and while sitting at her kitchen table Maisey crawled up on my shoulder and sat there. My co-worker wanted me to take her home and I wanted to, but I already had a dog and two cats, so I was hesitant. I was planning to visit my parents for Christmas and told my co-worker that if no one took her before I returned I would take her. When I returned, my co-worker told me that one man had wanted to take her but she (my co-worker) didn’t like the looks of him so she kept her for me. I am very grateful for that.
When I took Maisey home, she was just a tiny little fluff ball. My older cat, Spooky (so named because she resembled a Halloween cat), was immediately jealous and bullied Maisey. Maisey would climb up my pants legs so I would hold and protect her. This was very cute until the point she was climbing up my leg while I was wearing shorts. It wasn’t very long though before Maisey got over her “scaredy-cat” phase and she and Spooky became close friends. When Maisey was a young adult, Spooky had a litter of kittens and Maisey helped to care for them. One day, as the kittens were at the point of starting to wean, Maisey walked in the front door. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw something in her mouth. It was a bird – a still living bird. As I was screaming “get that thing out of this house”, Maisey calmly ignored me and set the bird loose in front of wide eyed kittens. She then proceeded to catch it, set it loose, catch it & I realized she was teaching the kittens how to hunt. I was torn between “aw, how cute” and “eww, how disgusting”. Then she took the now dead bird and dropped it on top of the cat food bowl – as if to show them, “see this can be used as food”. The kittens also learned that day that if you bring a dead bird into the house and don’t wish to eat it, then your “owner” will get rid of it for you.
When Maisey first came to live with me, I was a smoker and Maisey would try to inhale my smoke. She was quite irritated when I quit smoking and no one smoked in the house. While I was still a smoker I was sitting in my living room and had a soft pack of open cigarettes sitting on my coffee table, with a couple of cigarettes sticking out the open end. Maisey jumped up on the coffee table and got one in her mouth and stood there with it hanging out her lip, as if to say “Got a light?” Instead of getting a light, I got my camera, but she dropped it before I could take the shot.
When I went off to graduate school, I could only take one pet and due to the deep bond I had developed with her, Maisey was that pet. She remained my only pet for many years. She adapted easily to many moves and was with me through some very difficult and dark times in my life. At times, caring for her was the only thing
that gave me purpose to keep going.
Not to say we never had conflict. When Maisey was pissed off you knew it. One time she was mad at me and when I laid down to sleep she got up by my head on my pillow (like she sometimes slept) and then peed on my head. Then I was pissed on AND pissed off.
When I was going to move in with my partner, she quickly became aware that Maisey and I were a package deal. Prior to this she had never had a cat and wasn’t keen on the ideal of having a cat. When we moved in, she said, “Well, the cat can come, but she can’t get on any of the furniture.” (Hello?! Are you even familiar with the concept of cats?) Maisey and I just looked at each other and stifled laughter. After we moved in, my partner said “Well, she can get on the furniture, but I don’t want her on the bed.” It was not long after that when I came home and found her and Maisey snuggled up on the bed together napping.
When Maisey was young somehow she taught herself to use the toilet. I never tried to teach her this, so that I assume she learned by observation. One day I came home and my partner told me that she had heard tinkling in the bathroom and went in to find Maisey peeing in the toilet. She was slightly freaked out. “Yeah, she does that”, I said.
Maisey quickly won my partner’s heart and she took very good care of her as she aged. It became more difficult for Maisey to jump up in the window and my partner built her steps to get in the window and
installed a window seat for her.
Maisey was smart, beautiful, devoted, and very loving. Both my partner and I are very sad that she is gone and miss her very much. I am grateful that she went quickly and didn’t suffer and that she is in a better place.
Goodbye Maisey – we love you and will miss you.
With Love,
| Maisey |
| 30, June 2008 |
| Cecilia G. |