In Memory of Lilly 2/14/2019 – 11/24/2024
In February of 2022, Lilly watched the Oklahoma plains bleed into Texan topography from her transporter’s car window. Despite their best efforts to find this angel a home, nobody saw her sweet, dreamy eyes and cute little pink lips and thought, “I have to have her.” Except, of course, us. Our sweet Lilly had a feline leukemia diagnosis but still had a life to live, and we promised we’d give it to her as she rode home.
When she first made her way to Cookie’s Place, Lilly had boundless energy! She seemed to have a perpetual case of the zoomies. We wondered when, if ever, she’d stop to take a break. Thankfully, one of our volunteers Jeni spent time with Lilly. With time, patience, and an incredible amount of love, Lilly finally learned how to settle into a lap. She quickly found out it was one of her favorite things, and in her nearly three years at Shadow Cats, she became a professional cuddler.
When you walk into Cookie’s, there is usually a swarm of cats waiting to claim your lap. Some tend to hang in the back waiting for a turn, and others are practically at the chair before you even reach it. Lilly was definitely the latter. There was nothing she loved more than cuddling. And even though she didn’t seek out cuddle buddies in other cats, if one laid next to her, she never turned them away or left.
Lilly was gentle, with the softest presence, the softest coat, and the sweetest eyes. She wasn’t outspoken or bombastic, she wasn’t exaggerated or spunky. Lilly was a presence you took note of softly. If you were chilly on a cold winter’s morning, Lilly was the sun breaking through the dreary clouds to warm your fingertips. Lilly didn’t demand, she simply was…and she was just happy to ‘be’, to exist, right next to you.
Lilly played. She cuddled. She stretched out gloriously on Cookie’s Place’s catio, basking in the finest sunbeams that somehow just felt like an extension of her. It’s a wonder she wasn’t more full of herself, being as gorgeous as she was. She was splendidly fluffy, with long eyelashes and an ‘eyeliner’ look accentuating her beautiful green eyes, more yellow tinged than blue. She was a marvel to watch. We always admired her beautiful, fluffy tail, and the white tufts of hair, cresting at her face but extending down the expanse of her chest. She just had this majestic, gentle kind of beauty. Lilly didn’t need to boast, because her existence was boastful enough.
Lilly was one of those cats that gives you the sense that they’ll always be there—as reliable as she was sweet. Unfortunately, Lilly had something brewing within her that gave us no symptoms, no telltale signs, and no warning. She had been scheduled for a dental and did beautifully under anesthesia. She was in recovery, and despite constant monitoring and vet visits during her recovery period, our sweet angel could not pull through this time. Through all that peaceful calm, lap warming, playtime, and sunbathing, Lilly very likely had a heart condition called hypertrophic cardiomyopathy that caused a thickening of her heart. It was the makings of a tragic storm, causing her to throw a clot. She was rushed to the vet and passed in the arms of the people who loved and cared for her every day, knowing their endless love until her very last breath.
We are shattered at the loss of this precious angel. Though Lilly was quieter, her personality, her presence, and her warmth were all-encompassing. We already miss her terribly and wish that just once more, we could sit out on Cookie’s catio with sweet Lilly curled up on a leg. But I think it’s easy to get caught up in a story’s end, to marinate in the tragedy and forgo the breadth of warmth and wonder that existed before the final page was ever written.
Lilly left us unexpectedly, as our special felvies almost always do. But a sudden end does not forsake every time her tail swished happily when you walked into a room. It doesn’t make every soft glance, every afternoon spent curled up in a soft bed, any less meaningful. A garden wilting in wintertime does not erase the existence of a fruitful spring. And though Lilly is no longer with us, she was, once. She earned as much love as she gave. She lived her life to the fullest, and she knew true love. Lilly’s life could’ve been short, cold, and lonely, but she was destined for so much more than that.
Now, Lilly begins another journey. She steps across the rainbow bridge to join so many other precious animals, so incredibly loved in their lifetime. She enters a place where feline leukemia doesn’t exist, where hearts don’t stop, where pain is foreign. She enters a place where there are endless soft beds, stretching sunbeams, and all the rabbits she could ever hope to watch from beneath them.
Thank you to the volunteers who always kept Lilly happy with a lap to spare and a brush to stroke her with. Thank you to the incredible, loving staff who cared for Lilly until her very last breath. Thank you for the amazing medical care provided by Vista Vet. Thank you to her sponsors, Jason R and Jeni J. Thank you Aubrey G. for seeing through the little waif she was in the Oklahoma shelter and recognizing her value and Sherry FC. for getting her to us in Texas. Thank you to anyone who ever stopped to look at this precious girl and thought to themselves, “What dreamy eyes.”
We love you, Lilly. We always will.
Lilly had 2 Sponsors
Jason Rubero
Jeni Johnson