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| Name: |
Lucy
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Age: |
Nineteen years old
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| Gender: |
Female
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Kind: |
Tortoiseshell
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| Home: |
Salem, Massachusetts, USA
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Where
to start about Lucy? She is nineteen years old, and has only just
recently begun to decline with age. She is now almost completely deaf but
still manages to know when her breakfast or dinner is being prepared. Lucy
is one of the most beautiful cats I've ever seen and is frequently
complimented on her appearance. However, she has a voice that so
completely belies her delicate beauty that my friend and I have nicknamed
it her "Jersey accent". Her meows are guttural and almost nothing more
than grunts. In fact, until the last year or two she rarely spoke and then
was almost entirely in grunts. It's only been lately, as she's lost her
hearing that she's speaking up more frequently and it's longer and louder.
I adopted Lucy when she was 5 1/2, although she was so pathetically small
and skinny she looked much younger. Her original name was Ghost but after
one week with me her true personality came through and she was Lucy from
then on. She is so loving, and frequently follows me around the house from
room to room, I'm sure to other people she's just another cat, but it's
impossible to fully put into words the bond and emotional connection we
share. When I come home at night she runs to me, greeting me with a meow
that matches my "Hi Lucy" in inflection and intensity.
Until she lost her hearing, she loved hearing me sing her favorite song,
John Denver's "Sunshine on my Shoulders". No matter where she was or what
she was doing, when she'd hear me start to sing that song she would come
running and rub up against my face, mouth and neck, purring loudly until I
finished singing. Perhaps she was really just trying to get me to stop -
who knows? But that song would always relax and soften her.
Lucy also really enjoys putting on her "walking suit" (harness and leash)
and going out for a walk around our neighborhood. These walks have become
briefer and briefer in the past few months but she enjoys them just as much.
Her bright "Lucy spirit" is burning less brilliantly now as she slows
down; she has lately been diagnosed with hyperthyroidism which we're
learning to control with medication. But even in the twilight of her life
she lives her life fully and keeps my life full as well.
See more images of Lucy!
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