Eva passed away on Friday evening. It was peaceful and both Dave and I were there to be with her during this time. Our favorite vet, Katie Reece, was on hand, too, which made it more peaceful.
Eva was 19 and lived a very full life. I had her from the time she was 8 weeks old. I picked her out of a roomful of unwanted kittens in 1988 partially because of her stunning looks. Some friends nicknamed her "Cow" because of her black and white jersey coat. She was my favorite cat to photograph because of her black and white marks. Her face was split between black and white patches. She had a white jaw but a Groucho Marx black moustache and a little Marilyn Monroe mole above her mouth. She was a very vocal cat. She used to follow me around the house talking very loudly until I paid attention to her. She even joined me in vocalizations when I practiced voice. I decided she was singing with me rather than trying to drown me out.
She slept with me every night of her life. At first, she stayed with me all night long. Then as an adult, she spent part of the night in her heated kitty bed. In her last few months, though, she returned to spending the whole night with me, sometimes sleeping half on my pillow, half on my head.
Eva was a very jumpy kitty who was very shy around strangers for the first 10 years of her life. She even gave Dave a wide birth until about 7 years ago when he became her best bud, providing her laps and really good hip rubs that would send her rolling back and forth on the carpet in ecstasy. As she got older she got more demanding. She never did understand when another cat got attention.
After we moved to Colorado, she liked to lay outside on the back patio on warm days and soak up the sun. In her last weeks, she enjoyed moving back and forth between sun and shade in the back yard as she got too warm or too cold.
Both Dave and I will miss her very much. She was my Ev-wava. A Momma's girl.