Sweet Grace, an Obituary

 "One of the most beautiful qualities of true friendship is to understand and be understood." Seneca.                                    When the cat passes away all her servants are in mourning. Sweet gentle Grace, grey fur, was born underneath my yucca plant in Oct./Nov. 2018, a daughter of Esperanza, a street cat and regular visitor to my Cat's Table. When I discovered the little family, Esperanza at first didn't allow me to touch her babies which she moved to a place behind my metal fencing that was difficult for me to reach. This changed after two of her tiny ones died. I made space in a small corridor for the little family. From time to time Esperanza desired to go outside. Two kittens that I found in front of my door I added to baby Grace and her brother Sami. Esperanza seemed to be happy to adopt them, but unfortunately they didn't live long. Their vice mummy disappeared for 18 days. I looked in vain for her everywhere. Then Esperanza returned, I discovered her under my Yucca plant, bleeding from her mouth and nose, broken jaw. The vet did a good job and my little treasure recovered. I was happy to see her doing so well but then she disappeared again and never returned. Being a beautiful three coloured fairly young cat she may have found a good family, hopefully, otherwise if still alive she would at least arrive at feeding time, she knows my house, so I fear she may have passed away. - Esperanza's gentle daughter Grace integrated well into my big fur community. All accepted her, but she turned out not to be very healthy, she lost one eye, had breathing problems, coughed a lot, sometimes a bleeding nose, obviously a weak immune system (like many cats here). We often took her to the vet for inhalation, to give her some relieve. Saladin developed a method to knock at our sitting room door by banging the key attachment against that door. She watched and copied him. Some cats become especially attached to my husband, so did Grace - daddy's girl! I joked "Don't know what she sees in you....." We always fear the day one of our beloved little treasures passes away. In Tunisia cats are considered to be old when they are seven, in Europe at least 15-20. Suddenly Grace acted strange, she wet herself, went in hiding, reappeared, screamed a few times. I stroked her to comfort her. My husband desperately phoned the vet. Grace passed away, we lost our unforgettable darling much too early, end of March 2021.