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Her Nicknames: Eb, Eby, Ebonezer, Sassy Cat As a child I had always wanted a cat. My grandmother had 4 cats and I knew I had a love for them. I remember it clearly when I was 8 years old. My mother agreed that I could have a cat as long as my father said it was okay. I remember being apprehensive in asking him because I knew he disliked cats a lot. My mother said that was because they used to walk on his cars when he was younger and leave paw prints on the finish. This apparently irritated him to no end. One night, I asked my Dad if I could have a cat and I remember crying in apprehension hoping he would let me get one. I don't remember exactly if the crying really helped him cave or my mother was a part of it, but he did agree to let me adopt my first cat.
I remember Ebony's early years pretty well. She was very playful, loved to sleep in weird positions, and hated the family dog, Misty. But, she was strong and always managed to get around the house. She had a personality like no other cat. She knew when I didn't feel good and spent hours with me in bed when I was sick. She always cuddled right up beside me and slept peacefully. We played together a lot. She loved hiding inside my Barbie House. The Barbies never had such a big pet cat, and so realistic to say the least. Even though I had many human friends, this cat was my best friend because when I went home, no matter how bad the day was, she was there and always wanted to be with me. She wouldn't complain about her problems, she wouldn't show favoritism towards anyone, she wouldn't pass judgment on me. We played together and ate together. She loved human food and would always beg for it when possible. I had a rough time in school, especially High School and I knew when I went home, Ebony would be there, and I think in a way, I remember when she wasn't in bed with me at night and I didn't want to be alone, I would go find Ebony in the basement (usually where she was) and carried her upstairs to sleep with me. She usually stayed and curled right up next to me, it helped me get to sleep easier. She loved holding onto balloons and loved playing with string. She was never a real big fan of the toy balls, but I remember clearly she loved paper sacks and boxes. I have many photos of her in boxes and paper sacks, some you can see in her Photo Album. Ebony was always in good health except for one time when she got a nasty urinary tract infection and had to stay at the vet over night. But, she usually just went for her yearly checkups and shots.
Something about Ebony that just made us laugh so hard is she was very scared of storms. She wasn't this way when we first adopted her. She became afraid in her early years when I lived at home. If it rained, lightning, or thundered Ebony would transform into her storm mode. She would be very slow and cautious and get really low to the ground and walk in a very slow speed. It was so funny when she did it because she was going so slow and dragging her belly on the ground, it looked as if she was on tape and put on slow speed. We think she got scared one time when a large bolt of thunder hit. Ever since then she was petrified of storms and usually would run and hide, of course moving as slow and cautiously as possible. In her late years of her life, around the time after we moved into our first house, this fear seemed to fade and she could have cared less about storms. I went through my teenage years with her and graduated High School. I remember going off to College and missing her. She stayed with my mother and later when they adopted a kitten found along side the road half dead, she wasn't the cat of the house anymore. I remember my Mother telling me how Ebony would curl up with her at night so she would protect her from Rascal, the new kitten. She was never fond of any kittens. She was the only cat for many years and would have been very happy if it had remained that way. I graduated college and went out and got a job in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Shortly, after I got settled in my new apartment, I had my parents bring her up to me. They said she meowed the whole way up, about 1 ½ hour drive. I really think she was happier with just me because now she didn't have to worry about the other cat and she was back to being the only cat of the household. I would sit for hours on end at the computer and she would be there on my lap, even begging sometimes to be let up on my lap. She was a great lap warmer and always purred away. I had a friend who she never grew to like. She was always scared of him, she had a sense for people and I should have listened to her. Because, he ended being someone I couldn't trust and no longer speak with. I know Ebony knew and that is why she was always so hesitant to come around him. I knew that if Ebony approved of a guy then he was a keeper.
Around 1998, I began dating my husband and she warmed up to him right away. She would lie on him and was quite comfortable around him that is how I knew he was a keeper. Although, she was always jealous of the two of us. Because, I can remember to this day, if we were in bed there was Ebony right in the middle of us. My husband called her our birth control. And it was no joke because she was constantly in bed and would do anything possible to get in between us. In fact, in her later years, she was quite protective of me and got pretty sassy with my husband. Growling, hissing, and pawing at him, sometimes you would think there was a tiger in the room. If he got in the way of her getting attention she let him know. In fact, sometimes in order to be alone and get some sleep, we had to shut our bedroom door and lock her out. She did not like that one bit. She was a smart cat and had some behavioral problems around the time we adopted Xena and also the time we moved. She would poop on our beds sometimes. And, it did get bad where she peed on our shoes a couple of times. And, we knew it was purposely and not Xena because we did have her checked for any type of medical problems. I remember to this day my husband putting his hand in it (thinking it was water), guess what it wasn't. Boy was he MAD! After we moved and things calmed down it got a little better, but she DID NOT like the idea of us adopting Xena and let us know that. Her aiming was impeccable. I would go to put my shoes on and there lied in the shoe, cat poop. I can't remember how many shoes of ours she ruined. She mainly pooped on the beds or in our shoes. The only time she peed was when we were moving and adopting Xena, I think she just got too stressed out. We sooner then later learned that any shoes had to be out of her reach. We got the spray to deter her from going on the beds and eventually it got better. I give her a lot of credit though, some might think cats are stupid and don't get jealous, not this cat. She was smart and mad and she let us know it. We forgave her though and after we moved another time into our first house things calmed down and she finally tolerated Xena.
Ebony was petrified of bathrooms and the Humane Society told us this was because her previous owner, an older man, kept her locked in a small bathroom. She wouldn't go in the bathroom willingly at all for years until we got Xena. Curiosity was killing her and if Xena was in on the counter, Ebony was sitting on the toilet; she would even go on the counter and lick our toothbrushes. I caught her doing this one time; she must have liked the taste. Needless to say, we didn't leave those out again. She also loved licking the plastic trash bags. Very odd! Something that we never realized about Ebony until I moved into my apartment that had a loft is she was afraid of ceiling fans. See, at my parents they didn't have any, nor at my first apartment. I remember we put up a ceiling fan over our bed. And, the first time she went in there she was petrified of it. She would sit and just cower at it, watching it go around, I think it made her dizzy as well. I worked with her for many hours showing her that there was nothing to be afraid of. But even in the last years of her life, she would sometimes come into our room and watch it go in circles, looking at it as if it was going to swoop down and devour her. She was such a funny cat. Ebony had this staring eye thing that would just drive you crazy. She would go up to Xena and just sit there and stare at her. I could just see what was going on in her mind. She was trying to hypnotize Xena into getting the heck out of there. Ebony was the cat of the house and she tried to start fights with Xena. She was saying you will obey my every command, you will not take my place, and you will go only where I let you go. If you get in my way, I will ensure you know it. Xena usually ignored her and just walked away. Many times I can remember Ebony would creep up on Xena and pounce her, starting a fight and scaring Xena. Those two were comical together. Even though they just seemed to tolerate each other, when we weren't around, they slept on our bed together, they shared space together. It is kind of like that question. "If a tree falls in the forest and no one is around, does it make a sound?" I often wondered this about Ebony and Xena. "If we weren't around would they fight, were they jealous of each other?" I believe for the most part that they got along when we weren't around and although they would never sleep side by side or usually lie within 1 foot of each other, they were companions to some degree. They were leery of being too close to each other, but did share space sometimes, especially when it came to sun bathing, as seen in the picture above.
Shortly after, we got married; Ebony had this thing for sleeping on top of my husband. He would be out cold at night and Ebony would crawl on top of his chest and just stare down at him while he slept as if studying him, trying to figure out why he was now in her bed and what I needed him for. She was not afraid to walk all over you and many times would sleep on our pillows right by our head. I remember waking up and trying to see the alarm clock, only it was so dark, why couldn't I see the alarm clock. Oh, that was because there was furry black spot in the way. Hey, when you are half asleep you don't realize it for a few seconds. I would reach over to hit the snooze button and instead of tapping the alarm clock, I tapped a cat, she had no snooze button. Ebony was my Halloween cat. As a kid, I always thought it was cool because I had a black cat. I even remember some people telling me it was bad luck or surprised that I had a black cat. But, I never believed that. In fact, in October 2003 I caught her rubbing some stuffed pumpkins that I had out as a decoration. I swear they had cat nip in them, because she got up on my coffee table and knocked them off and rubbed them as if they were stuffed with catnip. What was so fascinating about them, I guess I will never know. But she was always like that, getting into things. She thought that I had it there for her and she always helped her self. I remember taking many photos of her with these pumpkins because I thought it was perfect for Halloween. You can see all kinds of photos with her next to the pumpkins in her Photo Album. She slept beside me in our king size bed for hours on end. She managed to come up every night and squeeze in even after I fell asleep. I would awake with her squeezed in between my arms or curled up right next to me in this black furry ball. It is amazing that I never hurt her. She got up and promptly headed downstairs for food. My husband and I tripped over her many times in the kitchen. She would beg for food just because she knew it annoyed us and she usually got her way. She would beg every half an hour if she could. I remember hearing a loud bang one night when my husband tripped over the cat and ended up on the stove. She was constantly under our feet. She never let us forget she was there. You would see a line at the Fresh Flow Water Fountain. Xena would be drinking and there she was in line waiting single file thinking is this cat ever going to stop drinking so I can get a drink.
When Kathryn arrived her personality didn't change much. I don't even know if she really acknowledged Kathryn. But, she still begged for attention and to this day I wish I had given her more. We knew that she was getting worse around this time. She was diagnosed with Kidney Disease in June 2003. Shortly, after the New Year of 2004, she was throwing up a lot and loosing weight, all signs that her disease was progressing. I still valued my time with her and although I didn't give her all the attention I could because we had a baby to take care of, I didn't love her any less. She always managed to get on our laps though or get attention no matter if Kathryn was in the way or not. I remember her lying on my lap many times with Kathryn in my arms and she knew it was a risk that she might get kicked from the baby. Kathryn even reached out and grabbed her whiskers once. Ebony just looked at her like excuse me, just what do you think you are doing. She really didn't seem to care that much though. I tried to brush her when I could. She loved being brushed from the day we adopted her and would come running if she saw you had a brush in your hand. I kept telling myself and my husband that we should give her attention as much as possible. I feel guilty now when I pushed her away because I wanted to relax and when I was taking care of Kathryn and didn't have room for her on my lap. I'll always wish I gave her more attention before she died. If I had only known, I would have hugged her and let her purr for me one last time before I came home to find her having a seizure. My mother-in-law and father-in-law found her and called my husband who in turned called me at work. I left work early and rushed her to the vet. I knew it was probably that time and if she was seizing it was not going to be good news. Her Kidney disease had gotten progressively worse and with much crying and debating, we determined it was time for Eb to go to Kitty Heaven. We were with her when they put her to sleep. I am glad I did that because I did owe it to her. She was my best companion in life and will never be forgotten. I told my husband it is like taking one of my limbs, something that I am use to having for 20 years, a part of my life since I was just 8 years old! Ebony, this web page is in dedication to you. We hope you know how much you were loved and we hope you are now in peace. No one will really understand how much we will miss you! To read more about Ebony and her health issues, please see Ebony's Health. |
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Last Update: 2/24/06 |
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The picture to the left is one of Ebony shortly after we adopted her. It is one of my favorites. We got her this kitty condo, which she loved as a kitten. We spent much time together and grew to become great friends. I didn't think of this cat as a cat, I thought of her as my best friend, my baby. One that shared my bed with me, one that would listen to anything I had to say, and one that would grow up with me through my teenage and college years. She even would go through the dating years with me and become the first cat to my husband, David. 
she kept me sane sometimes.
I can't remember exactly how old she was when we started her on canned food, but I believe it wasn't long after we got her and she loved it! I really think it had something to do with her shiny, silky fur coat. Her coat was always so shiny and soft, many vets and people commented on her nice coat till the day she passed away. She was an Alpo and 9 lives canned food cat! She loved it and begged for it daily.
She was always in hiding if company was around; she wasn't a social cat, because she was my cat. My parents always said she is Heather's cat. She would always warm up to them and friends and family, but would always be with me all the time. She wanted my attention all the time, she loved me and I knew that.
Now, I say tolerated Xena because if they got close she let her know she was in her way. If Xena tried to walk by her Ebony let her know that this was not allowed, there was no walking in her zone, and some nice hissing and fighting usually ensued. Xena usually always stood up for herself. But, we were lucky to find Xena, because she just ignored Eb most of the time, I think this was a good thing, still giving Ebony the idea that she won and she was still the cat of the house. Sometimes, Xena did stand up for herself and gave her a good slap, but Ebony always thought she was the top cat of the house, nothing would change that. 
The staring problem of hers not only had an effect on Xena, but on us as well. No matter what you were doing or if you were in bed to relax and watch TV or go to sleep, there was Ebony. She would sit there and stare at you for minutes, like those eyes could turn you to stone. If you petted her and showed her some attention she would lie down next to you and hog up as much of the bed as possible. David always complained that he had no bed space because she would hog a large part of the bed. I remember lying her down constantly and asked her why couldn't she just lay down like Xena did. Why did she have to sit there and stare? She wanted your attention and she knew how to get it. 
When I was pregnant she really became a nuisance at night. She constantly bothered us for attention in bed and was so jealous after we had our baby that she started pooping on the furniture again and sometimes on the floor. She never peed though, so we knew it was a behavioral problem. We covered the couch with plastic sometimes to deter her from doing it. The things you do for your pets. We watched her use the littler box once to go pee then came out and scanned the couch right in front of us, and headed back to the littler box to go number two. This cat was smart; she knew how to let us be aware that she was MAD.
In the last couple years of her life, she slowed down and really loved sleeping in her cat bed that we bought for her at Christmas time. We bought her and Xena one for Christmas 2002 (seen in the picture above) and again a new one for Christmas 2003 (seen in the picture to the right). They each had their own bed. In Christmas 2003, we even bought a heating pad for her which she loved. It must have felt good to her old bones.