ANOTHER DEATH, OF A GREAT CAT…….
EGO, OF TORONTO AND HALIFAX AND POINTS IN BETWEEN….OBITUARY SUBMITTED BY OLGA KITS, WHO TOOK CARE OF EGO FOR MANY WONDERFUL YEARS…….LIVES LIVED, (GLOBE $ MAIL) TAKE NOTE!
To All of Ego’s friends and acquaintances,
Ego (a.k.a. ’sticky rice’, ‘cranky cat’) died today after having been with me for 14 years. Lucky for her (and me) she spent the latter half of her life also with Lynette.
Ego was born in 1994 in a plastics factory near Dupont & Dundas in Toronto where I lived at the time. I soon discovered that there were many semi(feral) cats in that building and they were fed left-over scraps by the factory workers (that a factory existed in the mid-90’s near down-town Toronto is a bit of a mystery… but I am getting off track). After seeing her several times wandering around, I considered adopting her. And I did. With a Portuguese roasted chicken in one hand, I scooped her off the streets of Toronto with the other and brought her into my life.
People always say that cats need consistency of place. Ego, however, was an ultra modern cat and had the ease of a feline in adapting to all her new living arrangements I (and we) brought her in to. From Dupont and Dundas, we moved to St George Street where she became an indoors cat. After that we moved to Albany Street in the Annex, where she loved to be outdoors and hang out across the street in the garden of daffodils cared for by Lynn Spink. Once she caught a bird, to both our great surprise. It never happened again. Then Lynette moved in to the loft we had near Queen and Bathurst, becoming an indoor kitty once again. Then on to Cabbage Town (still indoors) and our final Toronto stop was East China Town where she shared the deck and rooftop with squirrels and raccoons.
Then Ego an I flew first class via Jetsgo (now defunct) to Halifax where an entirely new adventure started. First we lived on Pepperel Street in Halifax where she was mostly indoors but sometime outdoors. We had a significant rodent infestation. While I would like to tell you that she helped in this battle, the fact was that she shared her food freely! Then we moved to Melville Ave where she had a fantastic view of the Northwest Arm and lounged outside to her hearts content. Of course we did bring Ella the Dog into our lives and that required a bit of an adjustment, though they freely shared their space together, Ella always on the potential swipe end! Finally, about a year ago we moved to the small fishing village of Terence Bay where she had her own cat walk on the third floor, a beautiful garden, loud birds, a little stream and plenty of salty fog and wind! All and all, she always acclimatized to her new place better than most of her human colleagues.
Ego was diagnosed with terminal cancer about 16 months ago. She lived on for more than a year beyond what was expected; we told her every day how generous it was of her to spend some of her time with us. She was a most excellent and loved cat. She will be missed greatly in the many little and big ways cats do. We buried her in our yard with Terence Bay soil and some triple mix, preparing the grounds for some nice tulips and daffodils. We think she would approve.