Catstory 101: Mandy 2001-2013

Mandy c.2009

Mandy 2001-2013

Mandy the Cat hailed from Gentry, Arkansas.  She started out as my girlfriend Val's cat and was about three months old when she adopted Val.  Apparently, she lept up on Val's chest while Val was babysitting and slept there.  Val took her home with her. 

Mandy went through a lot of movement in her life, including a move from Arkansas to Oregon in 2009.  Mandy was somewhat fierce and could be wild at times (especially in her younger years when she would run around crazy at night and climb into high inaccessible places) but after Tikki, all other cats seem tame by comparison.  She was a very loud cat and loved to yowl at night.  She also loved to eat, something that caused her a few medical problems in her time.

I first met Mandy in late 2001 when I observed her trying to get out of a bedroom with a door ajar.  There was a ferret living with her in the house and, after pawing at the door and not being able to figure it out, the ferret literally shoved Mandy out of the way and opened the door to get out.  It was sort of a defining moment of Mandy's personality and abilities.  And she never did learn how to paw open doors.

Mandy was a very loyal cat, sleeping on Val's head at night and very attached to her daddy (me).  She grew very large later in life and at one point had to be put on a diet.  On the other hand, her bulk came in handy when she would throw herself on a string to capture it! 


Her first years were spent around the ferret and a Doberman and I always thought that Mandy identified as a dog.  She didn't know she was a cat.  

We've been told that Mandy had a very expressive cat face and I think the veterinarian we took her to wanted to cat-nap her! :-) 

One interesting bit of trivia - having lived in Arkansas for almost ten years, living through extraordinary violent
Midwest thunderstorms, Mandy was never afraid on Fourth-of-July night with all the fireworks.  Even in Oregon, she would run to the window to look out, probably thinking the commotion was another big thunderstorm. 

In the latter part of her life, Mandy was on a pure wet-food diet because of her weight.  Dry food is okay for cats, but contains a lot of grains they don't really need.  If your cat is overweight, try to avoid feeding them dry food.

Mandy was released to the universe after a long fight with cat leukemia in 2013.