And now we come to the end of the story of Pickles, who went for a final time to the vet today.

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Renal failure took her away from us at age 17 and a half. Pickles, the sassiest little tame wildcat in the world. I called her "Mini M'Ow." I hope she is now across the rainbow bridge with her brother Pretzel.





She drove hubby nuts with the way she would shred the spines of his record album covers. I caught her doing it once, and I slowly crept up behind her, and slapped the newspaper she was sitting Sphinx-like on. She did a complete back flip! It was like a real life Claude the cat.





She loved to play fetch with a small ball in her youth, and always made this ridiculous "mrooow" sound trying to meow with her mouth full as she brought it back. One time instead of bringing back the ball, she returned dragging a plastic grocery bag by the handle. The ball had somehow gotten into the bag, and when she couldn't get it out she brought everything!


When she was tiny, she was obsessed with watching Nintendo games and figure skating. Sometimes she would sit on top of the old set and bat at the screen while we played games. As an adult she became an "office" cat, who always had to inspect the printer while it was printing.





She hated other kitties. She fought through the window with one. Sometimes he would sneak his paw in under the door of the old farmhouse we were living in, and she would beat it up.

On one of our moves, we thought we'd lost her. Hubby thought it was perfectly reasonable to pack the kitties in the tool box of his truck because weren't going very far at all. But when we arrived, there was only one kitty in the box! I was so upset until I heard her crying. She was a tiny kitty (7lbs on a good day) and had managed to wiggle herself up into the sliding drawer with the wrenches! (She could also slide underneath the trailer doors the same way.)

She did actually escape a few times, but never made it further than a few steps from the house. She was so agitated and angry at the world for being a scary place! LOL She'd go all "Halloween cat" and hiss and spit at absolutely nothing at all!

When she was a kitten she got ear mites, so I had to wrap her up in a towel and give her drops. She was so furious at me for doing this that she promptly jumped up into the beanbag and, glaring at me the entire time, she peed all over it! It wasn't funny at the time, but now it makes me laugh. She was _such_ an alpha cat. (And she had a HUGE voice for such a little kitty. She would get right in my face, wrinkle her nose and, "rowr" at me. Sometimes she would stick her tongue out while doing it.)





Had she been an outside kitty she would have been a tree cat. As a young cat, she loved to climb doors and drape herself across the top of them. (I wish I had a picture of her doing this! It was so funny! Here she is tightrope walking across a curtain rod.)





She was a nurse, and looked after the kids when they were babies, and checked on any family member who was sick. She was also a hairdresser, and loved to groom her people. (I used to call her "Prickles" when she did that.)





She loved to be wherever the family was, especially if we were playing board games or cards. She was always keen to help!





In the last few years, as she became an elderly cat, she began a new nightly habit of sleeping on my pillow (and head and face.) It was actually very soothing, she was soft and warm and a very loud purrer. I am not sure how I will get to sleep tonight without her, my little Princess.