Kat, I'm sorry to hear about old Shadowfax, but rejoice in the fact that she had a long life with people that loved her- many animals are far less fortunate.I was never a "cat-person", but I agreed to keep a cat for some friends whose apartment managers didn't allow animals. Moses was about 1 year old when I got him. The couple who brought him to me had found him at a highway rest stop in the Arizona desert, thin and covered in cactus needles and sores. He had apparently escaped from someone's car and lost himself in the wilderness; and so my friends named him after that greatest of Wilderness Wanderers.
He came to live with me and my Labrador Retriever Blue, and spent the first two months perched on anything high enough to be out of Blue's reach. The dog finally succeeded in cornering him. and that was the day that this 145 lb Lab/Newfoundland mix got the crap kicked out of him by a 7 lb Abyssinian cat. Henceforth, the pecking order was clearly established; Moses ruled, then came me, and ol' Blue at the bottom. The three of us would take a walk, Blue dragging me around the block by a leash, while Moses scouted the forest and field around us.
Moses was quite a hunter- snakes, mice, birds were his prey. I would often come home from work to find a mouse field-dressed and laid out on the welcome mat, and Moses lurking in the bushes to watch my reaction. And he was a warrior. Every other dog and cat in the neighborhood gave him a wide birth as he casually sauntered on his daily rounds. A friend stopped by one day, and asked if it would be ok to bring his St Bernard into the house."Sure," I said," just watch the cat." He thought I was joking until the dog walked past the chair where Moses had been lounging. The cat suddenly sprang into the air and landed on the huge animal's back like a cowboy riding a Brahma Bull. The ride went well beyond the 8 second buzzer before we could dismount the rider and settle down the dog.
At age 14, Moses developed skin cancer on his nose that became systemic. It was an awful thing to watch him being brought low by the disease. By now I was married, and we had two other cats in the family, but Mose was the Clan Leader. When a neighbor's cat came in our yard to chase one of the young cats, Moses still mustered enough strength to run him off. It was soon after that I felt I just couldn't watch him suffer anymore, and I took him on the last trip to the Vet's.
He and Blue are both gone now.
"When I get to Heaven the first thing I'll do
Take out my horn and call for Blue"
And Moses.