Secret was our first furbaby when we lived in Jackson, KY. She had been hanging outside near the office, but as it got colder, we decided to take her in. Having little experience with an indoor cat, we had a couple adventures. Like letting her graze on food all day (by constantly filling her bowl), which lead to an overweight Secret, which lead to a cat on a diet. We also didn’t immediately spay her, and did encounter one spell of her in heat (we made arrangements to get her spayed right after that).
Secret was about 2 when we moved from Kentucky to Hawaii. Due to quarantine procedures at the time, she had to spend 30 days before we could bring her home. We were allowed to visit, and at least one of us visited her almost every day they had hours. We would bring frozen water drained from a can of tuna, bottle caps, and a chair, so we could play and just hang out.
While in the first apartment we were in, she caught a bird on the lanai and brought it in (and then released it – it wasn’t dead). And she jumped from the lanai onto a window A/C unit (we lived on the 7th floor). When we moved into our condo, we ruled out lanai time. We did however start to expand the amount of cat furniture available to her.
That expansion really took off in 2010 when Noah entered the house. Secret was less than thrilled about his arrival, but he addition of more cat trees and shelves helped her to never be cornered by him. In her later years, she developed arthritis which caused her trouble using a litter box (puppy pads were her preferred choice), and made it difficult to climb the trees (so I built one that was all ramps).
The last 2-3 years of her life, she had kidney disease. She spent several days at the vet when she was first diagnosed, and we were afraid we would lose her then, but she pulled through. She came home with a new diet, medications, and intravenous fluids. When we would go on trips, she would be boarded to ensure she had the medical attention she needed. In 2018, she lost any interest in food, and we had to make the very difficult decision to listen to what she was telling us. We said our good byes on March 24, 2018, but she remains in our hearts.
