George Ann

George Ann Preston

March 15, 1993 -- December 23, 2008

Our black cat, George Ann, quietly passed away this morning. She was a member of this family for almost 16 years.

Georgie was born a in a barn near Frenchtown, Montana. I do not know how many siblings she had but do know that she had a brother Ike. George Ann was a very small black cat and Ike was a very large black cat. Georgie came home to live with Erica and Ike joined the family of one of Erica's dear friends. We adopted George not long after we lost a cat to a coyote. Thus, our goal was to make our newly acquired barn cat an indoor cat. That worked with some success. George loved to go out on the second story deck, jump to a gable and climb over the roof to the little roof over the front step where she would stay and cry until we would rescue her. She would look at us with a "Where have you been?" look and then run off to hide in a closet when we released her inside.

She hated change and our frequent moves always set her in a dither. She would assume her "chicken walk" and find a cupboard to take up residence until we found her. She loved living in Spokane where she was able to live as an indoor/outdoor kitty. She especially like going out in the summer sun. She also like to walk with Bill and our old dog Samantha on their walks.

Georgie did not like strangers coming to the house. When there was a knock at the door she was off like a flash not to be seen until the visitors were gone. She did, however, love Erica, my mother, Bill, Sammie, sometimes Bentley and me.

We will miss her jumping from the top of the refrigerator, crawling out of a cupboard, swatting the dog, knocking things off the dresser at night for attention, crying when she got her insulin shots, and snuggling on our laps for her special attention.

Rest well old friend. We loved you and will miss you.

Herding the Cat

My friend Terry sent an email yesterday about giving a pill to a cat. It was funny alright. It reminded me of a twice daily adventure we have around here. It is called Herding the Cat starring George and Bentley. In previous posts about our pets I have mentioned that George is diabetic and takes insulin twice a day. She has been on this regiment since the first of the year when she had dropped to five pounds. Well, we have been true to our duty of injecting the insulin as prescribed. She has gotten stronger and once we got Bentley she even got more strong.

Well, we have had Bentley for four months now and George for 14 years. George has always been aloof and prone to hiding. Bentley still exhibits puppy ways (8 months old) and is not always the best behaved puppy around even though he just got a certificate from obedience school. Finding the cat for her shot has gotten to be an adventure. We have to make sure that all doors to closets are closed and then we search. Bentley has decided that this is great fun and has become a cat herder. All we have to say is, "Find the kitty" and he is off. He finds her, too. As he has grown and she has gotten stronger the races are becoming more dramatic but George is guided to her spot for her shot and Bent is very proud of himself.

Georgie is much better now. Her insulin is finally at the right dosage and she now weighs 8 1/2 pounds. She is much stronger and is once again her old belligerent self. Bentley is learning "stay" and "come" and sometimes gets them right.