Goldie

This is Goldie. She entered my life and my heart over 17 years ago.  She was a birthday present from my son Jacob.  We have had several family members of the furry variety over the years but Goldie was one of my favorites.  Jacob and I selected Goldie from a pet store in Idaho Falls.  She was not a kitten as you might suspect but she was a full sized cat.  I thought she was beautiful and I was drawn to her by her large round eyes and her gentleness.

Goldie had been raised as a kitten by the staff at Peaches Pets.  She was brought to them after her mother had been hit by a car and killed.  They fed her with a special bottle and cared for her until the day that Jacob purchased her.  Since her only "parents" had been human, she bonded with us right away.  Her personality and intelligence quickly became apparent.

She was a cat who loved to be held.  She would stand on the floor looking up at you, wiggle her rump, and wait for you to hold out your arms to her, then she would jump into your arms, nuzzle her head into your neck and put her paws around your neck and hug you.

My daughter, Jessica loves cats so her brothers would tease her about cats being less intelligent than dogs.  She said that she could train a cat to do tricks just like a dog and they challenged her to do so.  She trained Goldie to sit and to roll over on command.  She would give Goldie cat treats or (strangely) raisins as a reward.  Goldie loved to show her tricks to everyone.

Goldie was not an outdoor cat so we were taken by surprise to find out she was expecting kittens.  As the time neared for the kittens to be born, she created a place on the floor in Jessica's closet.  We moved her "nest" to a more suitable place in our house but she kept moving it back to Jessica's closet so that is where she had her kittens. 

The kittens were born on a Saturday evening.  We suspected something was up when she came out into the living room where we were all together and started meowing and pacing for us to follow her.  This was strange behavior for her as she rarely made any sounds other than purring.  She led us into Jessica's room and proudly show us one tiny kitten.  She followed the same pattern with the birth of each additional kitten, three in all.  Late that evening we saw that she was struggling with the birth of one kitten.  The next morning she was clearly in distress and I felt that she was dying.  We called the Vet and he agreed to meet us at his clinic.  He had to perform a surgery on her to remove the final kitten which had died.  The Vet said that Goldie would have died too if we had not taken her to him.

Goldie was a playful cat.  Jacob and Joseph loved to tease her.  She liked cat toys and would hide them all over the house.  She became very attached to my 3 youngest children and would be so happy when they would come to visit after they had left home.

When I married Sherwin he wasn't sure he liked the idea of a house cat but he quickly became attached to her too although he pretended to be irritated by her.  Many times I would catch him petting her when he thought nobody was watching.  He affectionately caller her "moldy".

Goldie loved our new home once she became adjusted to her new surroundings.  She had always been afraid of being outside but gradually she ventured out and became a good hunter.  Although she was declawed, she brought us many "presents" of mice and birds which she would proudly leave on our door step.  One time we were having a pot luck party on our patio, and she brought us a mouse as her contribution.

She was protective of our home too.  She would chase off the neighbor's Labrador (Sammy) although he could have swallowed her in one bite if he was so inclined.  Sammy and Goldie eventually became friends.  When Goldie was dying, Sammy brought her his stuffed tiger and laid it by her cat bed.  After she passed away, Sammy came to me and nuzzled against me as it to offer his sympathy.

It was a sad thing for me to watch Goldie grow old and arthritic.  I will miss her companionship.  She was a lap cat when I watched television or was on my computer.  She always came to greet me when I came home.  I will miss her terribly.