It is with a heavy heart that I compose this tribute to the sweetest, gentlest kitty ever. Miss Minnie, who had been a “temporary” member of my family since 2006, was euthanized on April 10, 2015, due to a malignant tumor in her mouth.

Minnie was brought to FosterCat by a lady who had been helping to care for the feral colony in which Minnie spent the first five years of her life. Because Minnie was shy, but could be handled, she thought and hoped that she might become adoptable, if given the opportunity. She joined the other kitties in my upstairs foster room (including our dear Tommy, with whom she enjoyed a special relationship) and made a good adjustment to life indoors.

Despite daily sessions of petting and handling, Minnie remained painfully timid. In the second year of her sojourn with me, she was diagnosed with a condition known as mega colon, which required twice daily orally administered doses of two different medications. Since she wouldn’t take the meds mixed with food, I had to shoot them down her throat by syringe, which as you can imagine, was not something Minnie enjoyed. Still, during all the years she endured this procedure, she never once hissed, scratched, flailed, or attempted to bite. She submitted without complaint (though she would sometimes try to elude me) and forgave me without hesitation after each administration of the dreaded concoctions.

Because of her timidity, it was highly unlikely that Minnie would ever be adopted; with the additional complication of this medical condition, it became virtually impossible. I knew that she would spend the remainder of her life with me, but her unfailingly sweet disposition made that reality a joy rather than a burden.

Giving Minnie her meds was generally the first order of business when I visited the kitties in the foster room. But once that was behind us, Minnie and I developed a pleasant routine, which involved her running to jump onto the window perch for her regular brushing sessions. Minnie LOVED to be brushed and would reward me each time with the sweet music of her soft but deeply contented purr. Then she would jump down to wait for the crunchy treats that came at the end of each grooming session.

Unquestionably, there are thousands of cat lovers out there who believe that their Snowball, or Fluffy or Garfield is the sweetest kitty ever and I would certainly not want to dispute a single one of those claims. But Minnie was, without a doubt, the dearest, sweetest kitty that I have had the pleasure to know and I am immensely thankful for the years we shared.

“The Lord gives and the Lord takes away. Blessed be the name of the Lord.” Job 1: 21b