Our CC Girl

Our CC Cat, our favorite southpaw, and my littlest love passed away on Sunday, May 15, 2022. To say we are devastated would be an understatement. CC was our first baby and will always have a very special place in our hearts. Her passing was extremely sudden and entirely unexpected. 

CC came into our lives when she was just 6 weeks old in February 2012. We adopted her from the Humane Society. Eric had been telling me that he wanted a cat and so we went to the Humane Society on a random Saturday and instantly fell in love with our CC girl. The Humane Society wasn't the nicest place for cats at that time, but we saw CC in her crate, spent a few minutes with her, and told the workers that she needed to come home with us. They told us that we needed to spend 45 minutes with her before they would let us adopt her, which at the time seemed so outrageous because we already knew we were a family. We followed the rules though and after 45 minutes she became our first baby. 

CC had 4 loves in her life: me, Eric, Tex, and our house. She didn't care for anyone or anything else. I used to tell people that she wasn't a very nice cat, but that wasn't entirely true. She just wasn't nice to anyone or anything that wasn't on her list of 4. To us, though that knew and loved her the best, she was exceedingly sweet. She didn't like to be held, but she would snuggle next to us when we were sitting down. She liked to be in the same room with us and would frequently chirp at us to remind us that she was there. She had the funniest littlest chirp. 

CC was an only child for her first 5 years in our home. When we brought Tex home, she wasn't quite sure about him but adapted surprisingly quickly. They became best friends. CC would often go over by Tex when she wanted to be comforted and he would groom her ears. She also made sure he never got out of line - if he tried, she would whack him. They spent so many hours sleeping on their chairs next to each other. They really were the sweetest little friends I've ever seen. They both loved each other fiercely. 

CC spent most of her days sleeping around the house, oftentimes in my office. When she would wake up, she and I would often have little conversations. She was incredibly responsive when I talked to her. I would say something like "hello CC cat" and she would chirp at me in response. I would keep talking to her and every time I finished a sentence (sometimes I would say things like "hello littlest love" or "I love you") she would chirp at me or half-meow. We did this all the time. It was one of my favorite things. 

When CC got older she wasn't able to jump on our counter anymore to get water out of the sink. She always had a bowl of water next to her food, but water out of the sink was her favorite. Eric and I started picking her up to put her on the counter, which she absolutely hated at first. She would tense up whenever I went to set her on the sink, even though she had been meowing at me just moments before demanding water. Eventually, she got used to this and the second I would step out of the shower she would begin meowing, chirping, and pacing near the sink demanding water. I would normally talk to her and tell her to give me just one minute to dry off before I picked her up, which was unacceptable to her. She would continue chirping until I finally put her on the counter. It was one of my favorite parts of my day. We did this both morning and night (and oftentimes both Eric and I did it in the morning. She drank a lot of water out of our sink). We sometimes joked it was a good thing that we had two sinks so that we could share one and CC could have the other. 

We weren't with CC when she died, which breaks my heart. However, the people at Petsmart cared for her so deeply. It was always so easy to see when we went to pick her up after a trip that they really loved her. They knew about her chirp and would tell us about it. They said that she went super peacefully and when they found her, she was curled up in a little ball just like she was asleep. I do have comfort knowing that she didn't want us to find her like that and that she didn't appear to suffer. After we learned that she passed, we saw so many rainbows over the next two days. I like to think that she was telling us that she was OK on the other side of the rainbow bridge. When we were on a boat ride there was even a small rainbow that followed us for a while and it made me really happy. That being said, I miss her terribly. She was the best little cat I've ever known. Here are some of my other favorite memories: 

• CC loved to climb as a kitten. More than once she climbed the screen door in our apartment and she would sometimes even climb on my legs to get on the bar in the kitchen. She was incredibly athletic when she was young. 
• CC would chirp or meow at me when she wanted something. It was so funny how communicative she was. She also took to scratching at my office chair when she wanted attention, oftentimes she just wanted ear scratches. 
• I often eat my breakfast in my office while I start my workday. CC would come and scratch at my chair until I let her eat the butter off my toast. I sometimes worried that I would get a disease of some sort from sharing my toast with my little cat, but so far I'm no worse for wear. And she was the cutest. 
• CC didn't often express outward affection, but sometimes she would jump up next to me on the bed at night. I would always move the blanket and pillows to make a little spot for her and sometimes she would sleep next to me. I absolutely loved that. 
• We gave CC "treat time" every night. She would jump up on the bed and Eric would give her a small handful of treats. We enjoyed this time together each night. 
• Sometimes when we got back from a trip, CC would express her displeasure by meowing incessantly at nothing in the middle of the night. It was so random and although annoying, we also both found it really funny. Those nights were also the most likely that she would sleep next to me on the bed, so I really didn't mind. 
• CC loved eating the leaves off of pineapples. We would store pineapples at the bottom of our pantry and when we opened the pantry door, CC would come running and start chewing on them. Sometimes she would even drag them out of the pantry. I honestly let a few pineapples go bad because I couldn't bear to cut up her favorite toy. We ate a lot of pineapples in the past year, oftentimes because we knew how happy it made her have pineapples in the pantry. 
• CC loved it when I pet her face. She would lean into it and purr so loud. I loved it. 
• CC loved to be petted in general and even when we could tell she was annoyed, she would purr when we were petting her. When she got annoyed she would move her tail a lot, which we learned was a warning. If we kept petting her after that, she was likely to snip at us which was hysterical. However, she would still be purring. 
• CC loved eating and being pet at the same time. It was combining two of her favorite things. 
• Tex is a herding dog and the only thing he had to herd was CC. Sometimes he would herd her up the stairs at night. It was so funny. She didn't like it, but she still adored Tex. When they made it up the stairs she would sit next to him. 
• The other dogs were all scared of CC because she made sure that they knew the house belonged to her. Tex was always a peacemaker though. If the other dogs started to get upset with CC, he would go stand between CC and the other dogs to protect her. Those two loved each other so much. 
• CC had long stretches. When she woke up from a nap in my office she would jump off the chair, arch her back, and stretch each of her back legs. It was her classic move and it was adorable. She did it even as a kitten. 
• CC claimed any furniture that she wanted. She claimed two chairs in our house - the rocking chair in my office and the right blue chair in our living room. No one else ever sat in her chairs - they were hers. Sometimes she also claimed Tex's bed. He would just sleep on the floor. 
• Early in the pandemic, I worked on our couch. CC would often come and snuggle by my legs on my blanket. She loved soft things. 
• Whenever we had people over, CC would hide typically under our bed or in our closet. After some time had passed, she would come halfway down the stairs to make her presence known, but she would never let anyone else get close to her. It was always a surprise for our guests when they saw her come down the stairs. 
• CC would lay in my folded laundry piles all the time. It kind of drove me crazy, but I also loved it and never made her move. I would just make new laundry piles. 
• CC spent most of the last two years spending time with me during the pandemic. When I worked on the couch she either slept next to my legs or more often on my piano bench next to the couch. When I moved into an office upstairs, she slept in the chair. She liked to be by me during the day and I liked it too.
• CC could fit into really small random places, like shelves in our basement or in my parent's entertainment center when we lived at their house. 
• CC as always getting in my luggage. I liked to think she was dreaming of big adventures and coming with us. 
• CC would always try to disrupt our jigsaw puzzles. She would chase down pieces or lay on finished puzzles. 
• CC loved the Christmas tree. When she was a kitten sometimes she would play with the ornaments that were hanging down, but as she got older she just liked staring at them or sleeping under them. It always made me a little sad to take the tree down at the end of the season because she liked it so much.
• Sometimes CC would wrap her tail around my leg. I felt like she was giving me a hug. I loved it. 

Although I'm so heartbroken that we lost our littlest love, I feel so grateful that we had 10 really great years of really happy memories. She was the best damn cat and I already miss her tremendously. 

Goodbye, my little CC girl. Love you forever.