At 2:45 a.m. this morning, my sweet baby girl Zipper went to kitty heaven.She was such a gift in our life and I can’t begin to express how much we’ll miss her.
She came to us on a hot day in May 2010. Her owner was moving to Hawaii and had no way of taking her over without a 6-month quarantine or some other unsavory sentence.
We volunteered to take her in after just 1 photo of her cute gray face and giant green eyes.
She was named Zoe when she arrived, but I snobbishly thought it too bourgeois a name and changed it to “Zip Zip Zoom!”. I had just spent a weekend in Texas wine country with three girlfriends, and this was a common expression. It just seemed to fit.
For the first 3 days, Zipper hid behind the bed, hissing at everything that moved and expressing great displeasure in her new environs. Our power had been knocked out by a fallen tree branch, and the house was easily 95 degrees at night. Very unpleasant.
Gradually she emerged from hiding and began to get acquainted with Brutus. Our fat little boy didn’t make it easy on the little girl; instantly sniffing her nether regions and provoking much spitting and growling.
Over the months they developed a friendship occasionally punctuated by Zipper walking by him and swatting him for no good reason. They would occasionally wrestle on the floor, with Zipper always winning though half the size of our piggycat.
She was never a cuddler but would tolerate being petted and loved on occasionally. She groomed herself obsessively and could always be located by the sounds of her tongue scraping over her fur.While Brutus was a purring ball of snuggle at nighttime, Zipper would roam about, occasionally visiting the bedroom to hop up on the bed and then hop quickly down. About 6:30 a.m. every morning she would begin “the stare”, which consisted of her perching on whatever part of my body was highest up in the air (usually a shoulder or hip) and stare at me. Just yesterday morning I woke up with her 3 inches from my face, staring. Telepathically reminding me it was breakfast time.
At 2:30 a.m. this morning she was viciously attacked by the pack of feral dogs that roam our neighborhood. She died a few minutes later in our arms and the only comfort I take was that we were there when she took her last breath.Rest In Peace my sweet, sweet little girl.
