Calico Beauty: Angel

Before Bella, there was Angel, our often intense, intelligent, shy, and dominant calico. Traci brought Angel home unexpectedly in the spring of 2000. Angel, who had spent months at Petsmart, was two years old. Her previous family surrendered her to the shelter before they moved, though we often wondered if they simply didn’t appreciate her unique personality. 

Angel spent her first few days with us hiding under our armoire. She was with us for two moves; each time, she would vanish for a shorter time, but she was never a social creature with strangers, though she did once venture into our elderly neighbors’ apartment below us when we lived in Carnegie. 

She could be loving, feisty, and dominant, often in a single day. She mastered the art of opening folding doors and prying panels off our laser printer to see what was inside. She loved most people food, especially salmon and strawberry cake filling, and she wasn’t afraid to stick her nose into the plate. 

She used to roughhouse with me, often leaving my hands scratched to the point where students looked at me with concern, but I didn’t mind. She was gentler with Traci, who still reminisces about the nights when Angel would join her in bed, nestled high, purring deeply. Her purr would gradually taper off to silence as she fell asleep. 

Angel would throw temper tantrums when we left her behind, but she greeted us enthusiastically when we came home. She practically smothered Traci for weeks after a long visit to my parents one Christmas.

We enjoyed her company for over 13 years before, at the age of 15, she suffered from thyroid problems that likely led to kidney failure. We nursed her along for several months, but largely confined herself to our guest room in her final weeks, and we made the difficult decision to euthanize her on October 17, 2013.