Zaza

I always used to say I was a dog person, cats weren't for me. Then Alyssa decided about five years ago that we needed a pet, but we couldn't have a dog in our small apartment. Problem was I'm allergic to cats, so they were out. Until she found a breed called Siberian that did not have the same allergy causing dander as other cats. We went on a search to find one that wasn't too much money, they typically cost about $600 - $800. We found Esperanza, a three year old Siberian living at a catery in Erie. She's was only $150. We drove all the way up to Erie to get her. The catery was not exactly a good place for cats, just a womans house filled with dogs and cats. When we met sweet Zaza we were glad to save her from this place. When I first held her she immediately hid her face between my arm and my chest. She was very shy. That only lasted until she became the queen of our apartment. Soon Zaza came into her own, she became a very playful and outgoing cat. Always wanting attention and someone to play with her. She would literally talk to us, with many different sounds. Most of them meant give me some cat food, but others were just her way of saying hello. Our favorite greeting was the "silent Meow". She would whisper a meow to Alyssa or me whenever we whispered her name. The whispering of "Zaza" became her call, she would always come if we did it right. Over the past two years she's lived at my parents house, there was a time during those two years when we lived there too as we worked on our house. We always wanted to bring Zaza back home, but our house mate, Abraham was even allergic to Zaza (so was I, but I dealt with it). About six months ago we found small lumps on Zaza's belly. They turned out to be cancer. My parents graciously paid for a surgery that we were sure would do the trick. She was only 7 1/2 years old, we thought she'd be fine. But the cancer came back quickly and worse than before. We now have a little cat grave under the Linden tree in our back yard. She never lived here at our house, but she always remained our cat. Well, she had four owners instead of two, my parents loved her too. I have to say, she really was a great cat. So playful and always wanting to be loved, held, and snuggled.