Today we said goodbye to Mao, aka Blue kitty, Floofy Pants, and Big Blue Girl.

Mao was the queen of sass. She tolerated her human slaves but mainly ignored them unless she wanted something: food, water, the litterbox emptied, to get outside, or petting. Whatever she wanted she’d make her demands known.

We recently discovered she had a large tumor in her abdomen, and she’s been wasting away quite rapidly. Which is a shame as since Sprinkles left us Mao had come into her own and almost become a real cat. She’d taken to sitting on the back of the sofa behind us and has been sharing my pillow at night for quite a while.

Mao provided a lot of entertainment, whether it was an attack of the cat crazies, where she would run around the house full tilt, wiping out on corners on the hardwood floor, or trying (and often succeeding) in sneaking out of the house. I quickly learned to always check behind me when taking out the trash. Mao was the epitome of the curious cat and always into things, especially boxes and bags.

Despite being the most independent and aloof of our cats, strangely, she was the easiest to train, because Mao would do anything for treats, including party tricks.

She’d go ‘walkies’ with me around the house and spent a lot of time asleep on my desk, and most recently on my office couch.

Finally, she stopped eating and was looking quite haggard, so we took her on her last visit to the vets. She was curious and alert to the end, and was very keen to explore the little room there. Like Getzger and Sprinkles before her, she breathed her last in Ginger’s arms.

A few days later she came home in a little wooden box to join Getzger and Sprinkles up in front of the TV. 

I have to admit that I quite miss Mao.

Mao – poor Mao, she’s very skinny but she still crosses her paws. Copyright © 2019 Gary Allman, all rights reserved.

Sleepy Mao – she’s having trouble closing her eyes. Copyright © 2019 Gary Allman, all rights reserved.

A last snooze on our bed. Copyright © 2019 Gary Allman, all rights reserved.