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| Name: |
Lulu
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Age: |
Deceased, eighteen years old
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| Gender: |
Female
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Kind: |
Tabby
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| Home: |
Short Pump, Virginia, USA
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Our first cat adopted us back in 2010, and after a few years we decided to find him a companion. A Craig's List ad led us to a family looking for someone to adopt their deceased mother's senior cat. Star, as they called her, was an extra small 13-year-old female. We took her in, renamed her Lulu and quickly found out that she wanted nothing to do with our male cat, Kit Kat, or us either for that matter. Kit Kat, huge at nearly 20 pounds, was initially scared of Lulu but took to stalking her. He lived to corner her and beat the ground in front of where she stood. Consequently, Lulu became the "upstairs" cat and Kit Kat the "downstairs" cat. We blocked off the stairs with a large cardboard gate. Kit Kat was too fat to get through the balusters, but Lulu could slip through and come and go as she pleased. She spent the days with me in my upstairs office, but if she was feeling brave, she would slip downstairs at night to watch TV with the family. Often, she could not resist the temptation to seek out Kit Kat to see if he was asleep. Sometimes she'd nudge him to see how deeply asleep he was, which set off many complaints on both sides.
Lulu took a year to warm up to us. She had some allergies that caused her to scratch which resulted in missing patches of fur, but we soon had her looking fluffy and kitten-like. All beds had step-stools next to them so that she could easily access anywhere she wanted to sleep. And if she wasn't brave enough to come downstairs, she could keep a check on things from a loft area overlooking the family room. It was a good spot for her to yell down if she needed to remind us it was snack time. Lulu never did warm to Kit Kat but did tolerate a new kitten that came along when she was about 15 years old. The new cat wandered the entire house, and Lulu stopped her peeved hissing after about two years.
Lulu was a tiny seven pounds when we got her, and in her last year she dropped down to four pounds even though she never lost interest in a good meal. It was during her annual check-up this past January that we learned she had at most another year to live, and she was gone by February. We loved having her for five years even though she really earned her nickname, "Cranky Old Lady." We encourage people to consider senior animals when thinking about a pet for their household. Our Lulu added energy, fun and love to ours.
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