In Memory of Marble 11/29/2005 – 7/28/2025
In November of 2024, we received a very surprising phone call from Williamson County Animal Shelter.
“Hey, we just wanted to let you know that we have your cat Marble here!”
Um…what!? That was the internal reaction. There were multiple things wrong with that sentence. Firstly, though our kitties have closed-in catio access, none of them has the freedom to wander around Williamson County like some teenager without a curfew! We have never had a cat escape the sanctuary due to our mantrap-style doors. Additionally, we have never had a cat named Marble in our care.
The external reaction was far different. “We’ll head over right away!”
And so, our Sanctuary Director drove to the shelter for more information and some clarification. Apparently, we had potentially TNR’d and microchipped a cat in 2006; this is why our phone number was attached to her. Whoever took her in down the line never bothered to change her microchip information, and on top of that, they declawed her! This poor senior girl, easily over 20 years old, was roaming outside, emaciated and without shelter. She was hovering around someone’s front porch, and that’s how she wound up at the shelter.
When we say, “Once a Shadow Cat, always a Shadow Cat,” we mean it. She was ours, and she was in dire need of care. She was a frail 4lbs, and we were worried about whether Marble would make it. We vowed to make sure her time was well spent, and that she knew love…for the first time in who knows how long.
Marble was a certifiable angel with people. She’d look into your eyes with a sort of gratefulness that made your heart swell. Or maybe she was thinking about her next meal, hard to say, but we’ll choose to anthropomorphize until the bitter end! Cats, though? Other cats were the bane of her very existence, the gasoline to her all-consuming, billowing flames, and if she caught one’s line of sight, we’re pretty sure ‘O Fortuna’ started playing in the background. Marble quickly revealed the reason she had lived so long. She was fueled by a pure, unadulterated spite, the kind only someone who has seen many moons can carry.
We began to strategize. How were we going to help Marble learn that other cats were not the threat she deemed them to be? How were we going to ensure that she lived her best life? The challenge was clearly laid out.
With Marble being entirely deaf, she didn’t have the kind of warnings alerting her to the presence of another cat that the others have. So, when one would come into her field of vision, Marble would scream so loud that all of us within a five-mile radius would jump out of our own skin. It was like she had an invisible, giant bubble surrounding her, and if another cat made the mistake of entering the invisible boundary she’d erected, all bets were off.
Still, Marble was at least all bark and no bite, and most of the cats were put off enough by her sounding the alarm that they gave her space. Still, we worried about her stress, and we wanted better for her. We wanted her to understand that this was her home, and for once, there weren’t the threats on the streets she had surely grown accustomed to. We tried several different things, a reintroduction among those things, and through vigilance and patience…Marble began to settle down with the idea of home. Our cortisol levels thanked her, because Oasis once again became the quiet haven we know and love.
We began to see her personality truly come out. We treated her for her arthritis, and we gave her the best chance at a comfortable life. Though it took her three business days to find your lap, if you sat down, you were surely going to be accosted by the old lady. She would purr so loudly, so sweetly, so lovingly with a simple pet and a warm lap. Marble truly began loving life. We watched her play. We watched her follow people around like a baby duckling. She’d even follow you into the bathroom if you’d let her! She wanted nothing more than to be with people, and there was no one she wanted to be with more than Lyss.
Lyss and Marble shared a special connection. Lyss would carry Marble around like a baby, and Marble would just melt into her. It was the absolute sweetest thing to behold. When Lyss had her days off, Marble would sulk in her favorite bed despite the plentiful spare human opportunities around her. This crotchety old cat who’d had to fend for herself on the streets finally knew the warm embrace of love and all that it could offer. The cat we were worried wouldn’t make it another week was suddenly gaining weight and showing us just how resilient she was. We were in awe of Marble.
We knew, in our hearts, that our time with Marble wouldn’t be forever. We were bolstered by the time we did have with her, but it became clear that her age was catching up with her. It became harder for her to get around, her arthritis worsening despite treatment, and she became weak. Bloodwork revealed cancer flags, and after a scary episode of lethargy and balance issues, it became apparent that it was time to let our sweet Marble go.
Surrounded by those who loved her the most, held in the adoring arms of her favorite person, Marble left us. Though we are unsure of Marble’s history, there is one thing we know for certain: the last chapter of Marble’s life was filled with love. There was not a soul who met Marble and didn’t fall in love with her, and there is not a soul touched by her that won’t remember her with a laugh or a smile. We laugh about her eyes, with iris topography and threaded lines that resembled crisp autumn leaves. And…somehow made it seem like she could see into other dimensions. We laughed about her sweet little face, with the tiniest chin, birdlike even in the way she sat. And from the same mouth she cursed at other cats with, came the daintiest meows known to man.
Our time with Marble was precious, and the time that our lives just so happened to intersect with hers will always hold a special place in our hearts. We feel very privileged to know that, in the vastness of the universe, in the span of lifetimes, of opportunity and chance, we knew Marble, a very special girl with a special story, for a time.
Now, Marble stands at life’s crossing. Ahead stretches a glade of the greenest, freshest grass, canopied in trees providing ample shade and hiding chirping songbirds within their confines. Marble crosses the rainbow bridge and finds her own little peaceful corner, erecting a border with a ten-mile radius and lots of, “Do not enter, or else” signs. She has chomped the signs for emphasis. There, she forgoes the shade entirely. Instead, she finds the warmest rays of light and bathes beneath a brightly burning, eternal sun with the sweetest expression on her little face. Marble is at peace, having left this world with a heart full of love.
Thank you to Marble’s fantastic sponsors, Theresa C and Diane G. Thank you to the volunteers who always provided a lap for our sweet oldest gal and gave her so, so much love. Thank you to our patient, loving staff for sticking beside Marble and showing her that she could be vulnerable, sweet, and accept love, that not everyone and everything bites. Thank you to everyone who ever saw Marble’s tiny little paws and thought they were the cutest things in the universe; you were right.
We love you, Marble. We always will.
Marble had 2 Sponsors
Theresa Caillouet
Diane L Grabowski