Sweet Dreams Yoko

April 1993 - December 2013

Even tho things looked like they had stabilized for Yoko this week, last night and today she was having trouble swallowing her food and water.  The tumor in her mouth was growing rapidly. Often she would gag after trying to eat.   Rather than wait until this got any worse we chose to help her to the Bridge this afternoon.

This is so hard - last year we had our Christmas card made up showing an old photo of Chica and Yoko and my husband and I, in Florida 19 years ago side by side with a photo of all four of us in 2012.  Here it is, not quite a  year later, and both dear kitties are gone along with our Joey who left on Dec 7, 2012.   I must have known somehow that it was the end of an era.

We got Yoko as a kitten at the local shelter  to keep Chica company but Chica would have none of it. Yoko was the only cat we have had since she was a kitten.  All the others came to us at six month or older. Yoko was tiny and her eyes were still blue but grew to a big ladycat of hefty size.  Her feet seemed so big but she grew into them.

She was our Buddha cat - doing everything very slowly, methodically and focused.  She ate deliberately, savoring and chewing every bite.  She even made biscuits slowly, with her eyes closed in a blissed out state of contentment.  Being with her, taught us patience - to sit, and not rush around, to be still and savor each moment.

Yoko in one of Judi-bug's hats

 Her disposition was quiet and gentle altho living with Chica picking on her so much, Yoko learned to growl menacingly if she did not want to do something.  It kept Chica at bay and as we took in more cats, Yoko mellowed out with age, even grooming the other youngsters.

She favored my husband over me.  He could get her to do anything but I would  get the growl if I tried to give her a pill, clip her claws, etc. while Don could do all that without a peep out of her.  She loved to lay on his chest with her paws on each shoulder and her body stretched out full length down his like a fur tie!

She preferred to make snug hideaways in piles of blankets, laundry or bedding.  Once I picked up a pile of dirty laundry to put in the washer and I knew she was in it even tho I couldn't see her - it was very heavy.  Sure enough she had curled up inside the clothes.

Even since she was a tiny kitten, she loved the Christmas lights on the tree - she would sit on the floor or chair next to the tree and just stare into it for long periods of time.  She enjoyed the unwrapping of gifts and would make the discarded paper another place to make a snug bed.

We buried her on our land with a bouquet of fresh pansies and the Santa hat all the kitties are wearing in this year's Christmas card - Yoko will forever be our Christmas kitty. We will see you soon at the Rainbow Bridge Yoka Doke!

Thank you all for your kind words of support thru this wild week.  I could not have done it without you.  I may take a bit of time off from blogging and Facebook but not too long. We have other kitties to tell their tales.

Thank you Ann of Zoolatry for this lovely forever badege.