Our daughter, Ginny, came home from college with a cat in a travel crate asking if we could keep the animal for a year. Seems our daughter was moving, the next semester, to a place that didn't allow pets. The cat, a long hair tortoiseshell with yellow eyes, was a beauty. She had extremely long white whiskers and a touch of white on all four paws. She was eighteen months old. Her name was KC, short for kitty cat.

Ginny saw KC in a pet shop window, took pity on her and bought her. A beautiful kitten that in a short time developed serious respiratory problems that ran up Vet bills and nearly killed her. It also compromised her health for the rest of her life.

At the time our daughter was living off campus in a house with several other girls that all had cats. KC the youngest was picked on continually and had to learn to be a fighter if she wanted to survive. Learn she did !

KC on the back of the couch.

When KC came to us she joined 2 cats and 2 dogs and stayed for nearly 16 years.

She did not like to be handled and would bite or scratch. She stayed away from the other animals and when one came too close she would attack him. Old habits died hard but she finally realized she was safe from being harassed by the others and she settled in and became one of the family. Many times when I was relaxed on the sofa she would crawl up on my chest with her nose only inches from mine and go to sleep.

She had a thing for empty paper bags and would crawl in one at any opportunity.

The bag lady.

As she grew older she would occasionally suffer from nasal congestion a hold over from her younger days and although she ate well she stayed slim. She had a lovely shiny coat and bright eyes and seemed the picture of health but always seemed to pick up some minor illness.

It wasn't until we lost a cat to feline leukemia that we had Melvin and KC tested. Melvin had a mild condition but KC's count went right off the scale. The Vet gave her a possible 6 months but she proved to be a carrier and was immune to her own virus and lived a good many years more. Months later both cats tested negative and showed no ill affects as time went on.

By now KC was sharing the house with a new kitten but she had slowed down considerably. She also was losing weight and at her check-up was found to have a thyroid problem. She still ate well but gained no weight. She slept most of the time and was just about 17 years old. She was put down in April of '96.

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