In her latter days, she was quite sweet. When she was younger, not so much.
When I saw her in the pet shop, she was asleep. I'd always wanted a tortoiseshell with quirky markings, and there she was, a black chin making her face look as if it was smiling, a lightning flash across her nose. I brought her and little silver tabby Jaspa home in May 1994. I estimated their birthdays as 21st and 28th March.
The first charming thing Amber did was carry her toys round and drop them in things - the bin, my school bag... But as she grew, she turned into the typical grumpy, naughty tortie. As my cat family grew, she continued to assert herself as boss. Trying to get past her elicited a swear and a swipe. The others were in fear of her. Even as her physical strength waned, they would still hesitate to pass her, eventually making a dash for it.
When she developed thyroid problems a few years ago, she didn't respond well to the medication (largely because I had a hell of a time getting it down her) and eventually she had to have a thyroidectomy.
Then she developed kidney problems, which is apparently not uncommon with thyroid sufferers. Every six weeks she had to have an injection. Her weight stayed fairly constant, sometimes even increasing a little, which was encouraging.
But over the last couple of days she deteriorated rapidly. She started to go out into the garden more than usual, even venturing out in the dark on Thursday night. I had to coax her in for fear the foxes would see her as easy prey. Maybe she was looking for a place to die.
Yesterday she failed to browse through everyone else's food bowls, and barely licked the special extra dishes I gave her. She was very wobbly on her feet, but she still came all the way upstairs to see me. I gave her an extra special cuddle. I thought I'd take her to the vet's on Tuesday. Then I amended that to Monday. By bedtime I'd decided to take her this morning. But she lost her fight for life during the night.
Bizarrely, I was twice woken by the ringing of mystery bells. I sort of felt I knew what I was going to find when I went down to the kitchen this morning, which is where the cats sleep.
So she did go to the vet's this morning, but only to be sent away for cremation.
Bye bye dear girl. I wish you could have made it to 19.
