a tribute to Emo

In late September (on the 23rd) we had to say goodbye to our beloved cat, Emo.  We had a good nine years together starting from when we adopted her over labor day weekend of 2009.  She was a remarkable cat for her small size, seven pounds in her healthiest years, and her extreme affection and sociability. She liked everyone (except 1.5 to 2.5 year olds) and was not the type to hide during a party.  Rather than being a lap cat, she was more of an as-close-as-she-could-get-to-your-heart cat.  When we got her at age six she was extrememly playful and jumped with impressive athleticism that puts our one year old cats to shame.  She remained interested in play until some point last winter.  Even as D passed through the phase where he couldn’t touch things without grabbing them she was extremely gentle.

She’s well documented here on this blog.  Some of my favorites are the Korat cat from the frat about her probable breed and fancy first home and Emo unleashed which has a video of her exploring outside of my parents’ house.  Back before we had D, we also made a fun photoshopped calendar of her.

Like most pets, she was a huge part of our lives and a review of our years together is really a review of everything important that happened to us during those years.

She came in to our lives in our second year in Boston, at a really lonely point in my life.  She made me much happier.

In 2010 she helped Jack deliver the final clue in his surprise wedding proposal.

In 2011 we suffered a cross country flight with her (really with the woman in the seat next to us) and we left her in the care of Jack’s dad and step mom for six months during our Grand Adventure.

We were reunited in 2012 and had a few quiet years until D came in 2014.  In 2016 we moved in to our house, doubling or tripling her living space.  She learned to trust D again and then we introduced the kittens in 2017.  They spent a year together and never quite became friends, though she and Luna lay side by side on the couch over the winter and I’m pretty sure I saw Toru lick her face a few times.

This was our first time having to make the decision to put a pet down and it was really difficult.  In July the vet said that her blood work almost certainly indicated something major, like cancer.  She suffered from some difficult-to-treat ear infections over the summer and lost a lot of weight.  The final straw came the night before her last day when her back legs appeared to stop working fully and she seemed pretty miserable.  She also spent most of her last few weeks on the roof and we knew that with the oncoming rainy season and new baby she wouldn’t have much attention or sunlight, which were the things that still seemed to bring her joy. 

In Boston, including the proposal

Emo and D

In our Seattle apartments

On one of her rare outdoor adventures

At our house

September 2019