Edie - 1990-2004
I'd had Edie (pronounced EE-dee) FOREVER. She was the first pet I got after I moved out of the house after graduating college and she's seen me through A LOT: a lot of boyfriends, a lot of apartments, a lot of LIFE. I love her so much.
In mid-September, I took her to the vet for a checkup. She'd been losing weight steadily and, as I found out, had actually lost almost half her body weight since two years prior. I'd known she was having kidney trouble - she was on special food for it - but this time she was in renal failure. She'd been having symptoms for months, even though I hadn't know what they were symptoms of. The vet told me that there were some ways to keep her around for possibly a few more years, but the methods were very intrusive, and I didn't want Edie to spend the last years of her life afraid of me because I was always doctoring her, or afraid to come out of the garage because she didn't feel well enough to deal with the dogs or Lila. I opted to have her put to sleep that very day. She was 14 years old and had led a life of being incredibly spoiled and much loved. She died very quickly and peacefully, in my arms, and was buried in the backyard under Lava's Tree with all the other cats there.
I'm sorry this page has so many photos. I went back through all my photos since I got her and these are my favorites as a retrospective of her life. I don't expect anyone to read all this; mostly, I think, I'm writing it for myself, to be sure I don't forget her and all her quirks and wonderful traits as time goes by, but take a look at the photos. She was my first baby girl, and I feel so lucky to have had her in my life.
I got Edie from the pound when she was just a kitten, all ears and eyes. The folks there thought she was maybe three months old since she was so tiny, but when I took her to my vet for her shots, he said her teeth indicated that she was much older, like six or seven months.
Originally, I had been looking for another kind of cat; as I recall, I wanted a fluffy grey cat with gold eyes, but when I walked by Edie's cage, I swear she reached out with her paw and sort of grabbed for me. I turned and looked into her big eyes and saw those big bat ears and knew she was the one for me. We went home together that day.
I don't know what Edie's backstory is, where she came from before the pound, if she lived on the streets, but she's always been a skittish little girl, and really only ever liked me, and later, Lane. It says a lot about Lane that Edie came to trust and to love him, and she'd often choose to jump on the sofa next to him so he could love on her. (Edie was so skittish, in fact, that it was kind of comforting sometimes. Mom used to say that when you came home and night to an empty house and saw Edie sitting in the middle of the floor to greet you, you knew no one had broken in to get you!!)
When company was over at the house, she'd wait until she heard me go into the bathroom, and then she'd very gently run her paw down the door to ask to be let in. I always did, and then she would purr and rub on me and be so loving. The bathroom was always our private place. I never let any other animals in the bathroom with us, just so she would know she was safe and that that was our time together.
I had Edie declawed, and our experience led me to vow that I would never again declaw another cat if I could absolutely keep from it. We had an excellent vet; I trusted him completely, but there was something about Edie's claws that was really strange - the vet said he's never seen anything like it. It was like there would be some tiny cell in her toes that said "I'm a nail and I'm growing" and after she was declawed, about every 5 months or so, a sliver of nail would start to grow back and poke out and bleed (gross, I know). I'd have to take her back and have them remove more and more of her toes. It didn't mutilate her the way I've seen some kittens done, but it was so traumatic on her to go back again and again and so painful each time, I wouldn't recommend it if you can manage to train your cat to scratch somewhere else....
When Edie was very small, and we lived alone in an apartment together, I made her a little bed in one of the side drawers of my bathroom area. Each morning when I would put on my makeup, I'd put her in the drawer and she would watch me and we would hold hands. I'd squeeze her paw, then she'd squeeze mine back. To the day she died, we still held hands from time to time and squeezed.
This is my all-time favorite photo of Edie. It was taken in a patch of sun at what was our fourth apartment together (there were many more!). I used to leave the blinds open for her and she'd sleep in the sun all morning when I was gone.
Edie's full name is Edith Marie Sedgewick. She was named after the actress/model Edie Sedgwick (more), because of her big eyes. (Yes, I got the last name spelled wrong when I named Edie!) I called her "Miss Boo", "Edieboo", "Boobooski" or just "Boo". When she was bad, I called her "Marie". :) She knew the difference, believe me!
Edie had fur as soft as a bunny rabbit. Sometimes I called her "Bunny". (I also called her "Peeper", because her meows sounded like little peeps to me. Edie had a lot of names!) Edie loved to play with plastic straws and with balls of Hershey's Kiss wrappers or tin foil. She'd chase them across the room and gather them up with her paw and then bat them around again. While she was the only household pet, she'd play fetch with me. She loved to bring me the balls of foil and have me throw them again and again. I used to find straws everywhere when I'd move (or clean really well!) with tiny teeth marks in them. We buried her with one of her straws tucked between her paws.
She also loved feathers, specifically those things that look like fishing poles with feathers on strings on the end. When Lane and I lived in an apartment with stairs, Edie used to entertain herself by dragging the feather and stick up the stairs and then letting it go, where the stick's weight would bring the feather shooting down the stairs, and Edie would chase it, again and again and again. She was so smart!
Edie loved almost ALL people food. Here she is, vulturing for some little scrap of food I'm actually about to give to Pitter. She'd take your hand off for bacon or chicken or steak. She especially loved raw shrimp and salmon. She could hear me cleaning shrimp from across the house, it seemed, and she'd be right at my feet, willing me to drop some down to her.
She also loved vaseline (it's good for preventing hairballs). At night, when I'd take off my mascara, she'd always get a big finger full of vaseline. This was our nighttime ritual.
After Lila was born, before she got mobile or squealy, one afternoon she fell asleep in the sun on the sofa. Edie climbed up with her, and fell asleep curled up next to her head. I took this as a big sign that Edie had accepted Lila and knew she was family now. I got out my camera and snapped away. Edie always loved to have her photo taken; she would pose this way and that way and look at my like "yes, I am so important, take more photos of me, I'm so lovely and graceful".
Here she is, enjoying the sun. I loved to come home and find her curled up somewhere, warm and happy. Some cold Saturdays, when we lived alone and we'd sleep in, she'd climb under the covers by my legs and sleep there. She'd peep at me and want me to talk to her, but I would still be half asleep and wouldn't want to wake up enough to talk, so I'd sort of humm, like "mmmmm-hmmmmm" from time to time. Over time, she found it very comforting and like a signal to just her. (I'm now making that same noise to Lila when she's waking up in the morning. She seems to like it too. I think Edie wouldn't mind, don't you?)
Edie couldn't resist a cardboard box. She's sit in it or on it and she'd sharpen her "claws" on it. I'm convinced she did it for the noise, as it made her sound like she had real claws! Edie also couldn't resist having a place made for her. If you were sitting on the sofa and wanted to get her to sit next to you, all you had to do was move a pillow and smooth the comforter (she liked a SMOOTH place to lay) and she'd be next to you in a shot.
When she was younger, for unknown reasons, she loved to curl up and sleep in the sink. I have NO IDEA why. Maybe she was hot? She did love to drink from dripping water in a sink. She also insisted that I keep a glass of water by my sink that I kept filled with water for her to drink. It had to be fresh! Sometimes, when I was brushing my teeth, she'd look up at me like, "give me fresh water; this water is evil and old" and I'd always give her a fresh glass.
Edie also endured the occasional costume. :) Can you guess what season this is? :) People have told me that this photo seems like she's unhappy, but if you look closely, you can see that her ears are perked up and her pink tongue is out and you can take my word that she was purring when I took this. I'm telling you, she was a camera hog!!
Edie sleeping in Lane's old chair. She loved this chair. She slept a lot. I guess all cats do. She was so beautiful and soft and sweet. She was my best friend for so many years. She always came to me when I cried and sat next to me, giving me her support. I've never had that bond with another animal. She was truly tuned into me, and I to her. I still feel her around from time to time. I guess she knows I still need her support. :) She was a very, very good girl, and I know I'll always miss her.
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