In Memory of Boo 4/12/2006 – 3/28/2025
So many of our Shadow Cats’ stories have an urgency to them. A cat in need, a call to action, a speedy exit and entry. Boo has never had much of a sense of urgency about anything, so it’s incredibly fitting that her story is much of the same.
Wildflowers sprouted and rose for a guiding sun’s inviting light, bare tree branches were quickly adorned with brilliant green leaves, and so came Boo in the spring of 2006. Boo was a beautiful kitten, a longhaired black beauty, with a little bite. She was on track for a life lived on the wild side when a kindhearted animal lover stepped in to get her and her little family of community cats TNR’d with the help of Shadow Cats.
She lived as a community cat for a decade with her family after that, looked after and loved. Though they lived life outside, they never had to wonder about their next meal. They spent their time sunbathing, birdwatching, and just being cats. But their community cat fairytale came to an end in 2017 when their guardians had to move, and there was nobody to step in and ensure Boo and her sister Shadow were taken care of.
Normally, this is where I’d say: and so to Shadow Cats they came! But it was originally in our plan to relocate these beautiful sisters to an outdoor ranch home to live out the rest of their days. But Shadow coordinated a heist-level jailbreak during transport and escaped into the Wild Side area of Shadow Cats! Through all our best efforts, we could not trap Miss Shadow. She was quite elusive. And because we didn’t want to separate the sisters, we decided that Shadow made the decision for the both of them. Boo and Shadow would find a home at Shadow Cats, and that was that!
Shadow had three beautiful years with her sister at Shadow Cats before passing away in 2020. Thankfully, our more feral kitties tend to find community with each other, and it wasn’t unusual to see Boo snuggled up in Wild Side in little cuddle piles. Boo was settling into her golden years very well indeed. In fact, she was settling so well into them that our feral girl, born and raised outside, was becoming surprisingly social. In 2022, she allowed our Sanctuary Manager to pet her for the first time.
And the trend only seemed to continue from there. Soon enough, she began following us around in Wild Side. We used to take her to the vet to be sedated for her summer lion cuts (very in vogue), which she’d model sprawled out on a sunny catio shelf. Eventually, she even let us do the lion cuts at the Sanctuary! Granted, we aren’t groomers, and our Sanctuary Director gave her a particularly…trendsetting, unique haircut that a la Winnie the Pooh style once or twice. Sorry, Boo!
It got to the point where we finally eventually decided we wanted Boo to join the ranks of our more social cats in Oasis. Somehow, this former feral was growing more tolerant by the day! Now, with that being said, Boo did wield her one lingering tooth like a brandished sword. If we were doing her lion cuts or trimming her nails and she was getting tired of holding still, she’d let us know! We always had something available for her to chomp on. But for the most part, Boo was surprisingly accepting.
Except when it came to Miss Elsa! Most of the time, Boo maintained a snail’s pace in her old age. We always theorized that she must have had teleportation powers of some sort, because she’d be across the room and then she’d suddenly be behind you despite her otherwise languid strides. We suppose she had to earn her name somehow! But for Miss Elsa…she’d summon a year’s worth of energy to chase after that girl and then be found casually sunbathing moments later. Elsa always had a cat tree to climb, because despite Boo’s Quicksilver speed in that moment, the old girl didn’t have the gumption to jump much.
It’s why we gave her some stairs to get to her favorite cat bed, which she loved to sweetly curl up on daily. When she wasn’t enjoying a good cat nap or choosing to be a menace for her ten-minute allotment per day, Boo loved to play! Now, her definition of playtime in her old age was a bit different than most kitties. Our former huntress would find an apt trophy on the floor and carry it around in her mouth, screaming to the high heavens so everyone was made aware she’d found a toy. She was even known to dribble a tiny basketball every now and again. Yes, really.
This former community cat even, later in life, chose a person. Nikki was known to carry Boo around in a cat sling like an infant rather than a grandma, and Boo was just thrilled to be along for the ride. Who’d have thought that after over a decade of outside life, Boo would become so attached to a person. It surprised us and simultaneously warmed our hearts. Boo, after so many years, had peeled back the little onion layers of her heart to let love in. I suppose that is just a testament to the power of the love our incredible staff and volunteers supply.
But after 19 incredible years, Boo was finally telling us it was time. She had a probable cancer diagnosis, wasn’t as mentally with it as she was before, and Boo’s signature languid pace became fettered by chronic pain. When Boo began to sleep more than she cared to play, we knew that our beautiful girl’s long life was coming to a close. And there is nothing more beautiful than the mercy in the final gift we can give such a storied cat: a peaceful passing.
We moved Boo’s favorite perch to the center of the room, and set her upon her favorite bed with a toasty heating disc beneath the softest of blankets. She ate her favorite treat as those who loved her circled around her in laughter, tears, and most of all, in awe of the beautiful cat we’d been so lucky to know. Boo slept like a sculpture in a beautiful garden, her beautiful raven mane resting against her dainty paw. With the slightest of smiles, with a feline grin, angel wings sprouted from Boo’s beautiful, statuesque body. She settled into eternal rest as comfortably as one settles into a nap on a grassy knoll beneath a gentle caress of sunlight.
In goodbye, there is beauty. In its sadness, love nestles. In the knowledge of its inevitability, a comfort. All things must come to an end. But that end gives each existence meaning, each story, a closing chapter with which to honor the life lived within its pages. With such a beautiful ending to Boo’s long story, she now stands at life’s crossing. Unencumbered by pain, by disease, Boo stares out across the sun dappled steps of the rainbow bridge only to meet the gaze of her sister. In tandem, their feet find the grass once more, as they did in their youth. Together, they’ll find a sunny nook, tucked away from the hustle and bustle of bounding kitties. Together, in eternity’s embrace, they’ll settle into the same sprawling position Boo held in her final moments, their tiny eyes closing as they bask in the warmth of an eternal sun.
Thank you to Boo’s sponsors, Jenna A, Tim M, and Amy J. Thank you to the volunteers who dutifully brushed and pampered this longhaired queen, and the incredible staff who nursed her through her golden years and ushered her into the next chapter of life with love and kindness. Thank you to Vista Vet for providing her with exemplary medical care, and to Dr. Birdwell for giving this grouchy girl acupuncture that she almost never was thankful for in the moment, but always was after the fact. Thank you to anyone who held this precious, spunky, sassy, and silly girl in their hearts throughout her many long years.
We love you, Boo. We always will.
Boo had 3 Sponsors
Jenna Allen- Smith
Tim McMullin
Amy Juried