I adopted Tipper at the Max Fund when she was 3 months old. Someone had put her out by the side of the road when she was just weaned and a good Samaritan took her to the no-kill shelter. As soon as I picked her up she began playing with the ballpoint pen I was holding.
She always loved pens and pencils. She also liked Q-tips and she taught me that cats like to fetch. One day she dropped a Q-tip at my feet and I tossed it into the hallway. She returned and dropped it for me again. After that we played fetch every morning as I dressed for work.
A very sweet thing occurred when I was ill with food poisoning. I was sitting up in bed and groaning. Tipper was at my feet, but she walked up, looked into my eyes, and gently placed her paw on my cheek. She then stayed on the bed with me all day.
Tipper had digestive problems throughout her life, but with good food and medicine we were able to control it. As she aged she got arthritis and in the months before she died, a large mass grew on her liver. We think it was cancerous, but the vet said she probably wouldn’t survive surgery because of her other health problems. She also had temporary blindness.
She never complained and was very affectionate to the end.
What a wonderful friend and companion she was for over 16 years!