I had a darling lynx-point Siamese, Zoe, who was the love of my life. It took me years to get through grieving for her after she died. I could just about kill myself for my ignorance about food, even though my three Siamese siblings (she was the half-sister of a brother-sister pair) were not by far my first cats. I can't fathom my stupidity: I fed these cats kibble for years. After which it was too late. They all got kidney disease. Zoe got kidney disease first and died at 16. She was one of the most beautiful animals I've ever seen. She won my heart as a kitten when, at the breeder's house where we went to pick up what we thought would be two kittens, a brother-sister pair, the tiniest kitten I've ever seen jumped on my shin and begged to be picked up. She was my baby. I held her, sang to her, cuddled her - and the same with her brother and sister. They grew up the sweetest cats imaginable. She was with me everywhere - in my lap at the computer, in bed, on the couch. She was the most wonderful combination of sweetness, laid-back, and feistiness at the same time. So Bella was up against stiff odds. I certainly know I cannot make comparisons. I just thought I'd have folks see my beloved darling, now buried in the garden of our house in Boston which we left when we moved to New York City. Her sister Trooch and brother Miso followed very closely in my heart. I still miss all three of them. But whoever wrote that I could not expect Bella to fill their places was absolutely on target. I don't spend very much time dwelling on them if I can help it, but they lived with us for between 16 and 20 years, longer than a lot of marriages. I do not think of them much at all when I am with Bella and Jamie. I thought I'd upload a photo of Zoe but it's not working out because they're in a different format from the photos I uploaded of Bella and Jamie. Again, there's no way that any cat could be to me what Zoe was; it was a unique situation. I love Bella. And I also love Jamie. That's the bottom line. Sometimes, though, I tear up thinking of Zoe. And of her half-sister Trooch, and her half-brother Miso, who was a gorgeous blue-point Siamese with the face of a big cat, like a panther. He, too, was the sweetest, sweetest boy you could imagine, cuddly, nestling confidingly against one in bed. And Trooch adored me abjectly. Always jealous of Zoe, after Zoe died she finally got her wish. She became my main love and I nursed her through kidney disease to the end, when she passed at nearly 20 years of age. Well, enough. Just a reminiscence.
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