In Memoriam: Ms. Goodie

It was a cold, snowy December day when I first met Ms. Goodie .

I was to get dropped off later that day at Detroit Metro, for my return trip to San Francisco, but first, the family and I had to make a stop. We drove to Ann Arbor, MI to meet my new sister.

We showed up at a judge's house that was so huge I almost want to call it a mansion. He led us downstairs, pasted rows and rows of trophies, to see the cats. The judge had been breeding prize-winning Russian Blue cats for years and one of his award winners was getting a bit old (at four years of age), Ms. Goodie Blueshoes.

Goodie was a beautiful, gray, thin cat. She ran from my dad and the judge for about a half hour. She was so fast - and smart too! At one point the judge and my dad had Goodie trapped behind a cage and she somehow jumped and escaped past my dad.

In time, they caught the cat, dropped me off at the airport, and took Goodie home to St. Clair Shores. I eagerly kept up on Goodie's progress in SCS from my trailer in the woods; Goodie (as we called her, dropping the Blueshoes part) was scared to death of everything, especially our huge Chesapeake Bay Retriever, Dugan. She had spent her whole life (except for the occasional cat show) in the judge's basement, so naturally, she ran into our basement and didn't come out for a month.

As the months went on, Goodie got more and more brave; she started sleeping under my parents' bed, started showing up at dinner time, and took an exceptional interest in my mom, following her around whenever Dugan wasn't present.

When I first came home for the summer, Goodie had worked up to following people into their room and giving them a look, but that was about it. She didn't care much for cuddling, but she still would sit next to the bed, or couch, for hours just to be near us.

Some cats would be all over you the second you sat down - not Goodie; she just wanted to sit there and chill, and that was fine with us.

If that cat had one vice it would be water - Goodie was always thirsty as hell. I set up little water bowls all over the house and would drop some H2O in there whenever she was around. She would drink it all and stare at you, as if saying, "come on. Is that all you got?"

Over the course of this summer, she even started sleeping next to my mom (when Dugan was gone) and getting more adventurous around visitors, and I even caught her giving Dugan a few sniffs while he was sleeping.

Last Saturday, Goodie just stopped eating. She was never a huge eater, but it still was cause for concern. By Monday, she was just sitting in my room not moving, giving this end-of-the-world stare. My parents could tell right away she was sick and decided she needed to go to the vet right away.

The next day, my mom took Goodie to the Harper Woods Veterinary Hospital, to see our regular family veterinarian (Dugan is a regular). He examined her: He discovered the swollen areas on her, smelled her breath, and commented on how dehydrated she was - Goodie had kidney disease. She had lost a whole pound since her last visit, and was slowly dying.

We had to put her to sleep.

Our options were limited; If we would have caught it early, maybe we could have changed her diet, but that would only have slowed the process. The vet said she was probably born with the disease and would have eventually died, regardless.

The family misses Goodie. We had gotten so used to having Goodie follow us into a room just to hangout while we watched TV, or whatever. Well, I hope she is in a better place and we're all better for knowing her - even Dugan.