In Memory of Juniper 1/19/2022 – 10/3/2024
As is the story with most of our felvies, Juniper’s feline leukemia status was a shock to the system. She was found on the streets as a kitten in Edinburg, Texas, and was brought to Murphy’s Safe Haven. When they tested her and she wound up positive for FeLV, they searched for a permanent solution, a positive outcome—a sanctuary, if you will. They came across Shadow Cats, reached out, and we agreed to take this beautiful dilute tortoiseshell in with our hearts absolutely singing. What a beauty!
Unfortunately for Miss Juniper, only a few days before she’d packed her bags and put on her best floral print button-up to travel in, she got ringworm! This delayed her journey by a month, but Juniper still found her way to our doorstep by way of one of our volunteers, Geri. Juniper got through her isolation period (only a few days) and was brought into Cookie’s to acclimate to the rambunctious room.
Only, Juniper seemed to fit right in. Ever the playful girl, Juniper was a friend to everyone she met. In fact, she made a few fast friends, including the shy and reserved Poppy and cuddly Newt. It wasn’t uncommon to see them curled up in a cat tree napping the afternoon away when Juniper wasn’t social butterflying her way across Cookie’s Place. She had this effervescence about her. She was not one to put herself in the middle of the action, content to cling to walls sometimes, but somehow, she sparkled without the need for fanfare.
Juniper had that sort of timeless kitty beauty about her, an elegant face, and a sandy orange dappling of a necklace around her neck. She had a chimera cat face, one half a soft gray, the other that same sandy orange, and the most striking green eyes you’ve ever seen. Our Juniper was truly an elegant beauty, though she retained her playful energy. That meant that sometimes she ditched the regality for a chinchilla-style dust bath in the litterbox, which always gave everyone a good chuckle. Juniper was special, with a special coat, a special personality, and a special heart.
We loved Juniper’s heart. She had one of those little souls that shone through purely, a beam of sunlight to every cat and person she came across. I’m not sure a single person exists that wouldn’t smile on a bad day just seeing her little prance, or seeing her try to get through a cat door with a donut cone on. What a silly, treasured girl.
Juniper spent her days reclining on catio shelves, basking in golden hour’s best sunbeams, and stretching her little toes in the most comfy, curled sleeping position on the softest beds. Juniper’s life wasn’t long, but it was brimming with love, friendship, devoted admirers, and even more love. We couldn’t have wished for a better life for this girl, if only it could have been longer.
But everyone who has ever loved a cat knows that infinity doesn’t exist, and though we do our best to turn our eyes to its piercing gaze, time comes for us all. Even the ones that deserve so much more time. Juniper deserved more time, but leukemia had its eyes set on her. It progressed, rendering her anemic, and though her body did its best to supply her with new red blood cells, leukemia destroyed them as soon as they were made. We tried to give our Juniper the best and most time we could, but the day came when we had to make a decision none of us wanted to have to make.
Juniper had grown tired and weak, losing muscle, and did not seem as spry as she normally was. On her favorite catio in Cookie’s place, we surrounded Juniper with love, praise, laughs, and so many tears, and gently held her paw as she passed from this life into the beyond. A little piece of each of our hearts went with her. To honor her passing, our technicians, with fresh tears in their eyes and a deep love and respect for this girl, pressed her pawprint onto a sheet of paper with colors mimicking the galaxies she had surely ascended to.
We miss our angel, Juniper. We miss her soft presence, so warm and permeating, and that inquisitive tip of her chin up with a question always present in those big green eyes. But we know in our hearts that we did the best we could for Juniper, that in her short life, she knew so much love and the best care. We know that Poppy is waiting for her best friend at the rainbow bridge, ready to guide her to the endless glade, to the place where all other Shadow Cats get to experience a world without pain, with boundless curiosity, with endless bunnies to watch and butterflies to chase. Juniper is home.
Thank you to the volunteers who always had a brush and a lap ready for her, to Vista Vet for always providing the best guidance and care, and to our staff who nurtured Juniper from kittenhood to adulthood with love, so much love. Thank you to everyone who ever looked at Juniper and thought she was the most beautiful cat they’d ever laid eyes on. We know you’d be right.
And how fitting that our Juniper was taken on a beam of golden sunlight, that in her last exhale of breath, as she peacefully left this world, the hiding sun came out and enveloped her in its eternal embrace? We will never forget it. In every sunbeam, we’ll think of you. We love you, Juniper. We always will.
Juniper had 2 Sponsors
Anne Fajkus
Cherie Wright