It was time for our final sayonara to our Sumo Kitty today. After 18 years together, we made the difficult decision to let her go. Her health had declined quite a bit, and we could tell that she was in pain. My son told me that she was really 88 human years old, and that’s a long, full life.
Who knew that our tiny, Pittsburgh alley cat would grow to be a big, cute and cantankerous senior kitty, who would snuggle by us on the couch and keep my feet warm in bed for so many years. She survived the pandemic and tolerated our pandemic pet ferret Blaze. To the very end, she was still hissing at Blaze whenever she hopped to close to her (we mostly kept them apart). Sumo Kitty wanted her own territory in our home, and a perky, young little ferret wasn’t going to boss her around.
As a kitten, Sumo joined our family before we were married. She lived in our homes in Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.
She traveled with us when our home was undergoing repairs during the pandemic to a pet-friendly hotel. She didn’t love that experience.
She liked looking outside, exploring our yard, hanging out in the garage, and sleeping on our bed or couch. Wet food and bits of cheese were her favorite treats. She hated trips to the vet and didn’t like being picked up. I was sad that she had to endure both of those things on her last day. As you can see, she had such pretty markings – the M on her forehead and white around her nose and mouth.
As a kitten, she found baby bunnies in our yard and would track them down to sniff them. She brought us baby mice a few times. She liked sitting underneath the Christmas tree. One time we found her on top of clothes that were drying on a drying rack. She used to run around and play so hard that her paws would get sweaty.
We sure loved our time with our one of a kind Sumo Kitty.
go mama o. 