‘Soul Mate’: Man Remembers the Bond He Shared with Special Cat for 18.5 Years

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Ripley and her sister, Ursula, were born near Chickasha, Oklahoma, on August 5, 1996, the day I left Missouri for a new job in Oklahoma. I named Ripley after the character Ripley in the movie Alien.

The day I brought them home, when I picked them up one in each hand, their little hearts were beating fast, yet they did not fight or struggle. Ripley took up a position at the wall, assessing me, wondering who I was. The next morning, two little kitten voices were mewing outside my bedroom door wanting breakfast. I carried them into the kitchen where I tried to convince them that the dry food in their bowl was food.

I was Ripley’s soul mate, and she was mine. She bonded with me fiercely and totally. When Alice joined us in 2003, Ripley was consumed with jealousy and terrorized the new kitten. Later as our cat household continued to grow, Ripley plagued them as well, to no avail.

As she grew older, she spent most of her time in the kitchen. Whenever she saw me, she cried out and ran to me, even when arthritis began to bother her. She would rear up on her hind legs and flail the air with her front paws for me to pet her, or pick her up.

Ripley and I had nearly eighteen-and-a-half wonderful years together. On February 19, 2005, she felt bad, so I took her to the veterinarian, who gave her antibiotics for a bacterial infection. She stopped eating. When I took her back in the following Monday, she was in renal failure. Although she was put on IVs to attempt to get her kidneys to function again, it was too late. She died in her sleep at the veterinarian’s around 10 a.m. on Wednesday, February 25.

Ripley was a devoted, loving cat. I was the love of her life, and she was mine. Rest in peace, beloved Ripley. You will always be in my heart. One day our ashes will be buried together. I will see you again on the Rainbow Bridge.

Story submitted by Kenneth Andrews from Jackson, Tennessee.

This story was originally shared on The Animal Rescue Site. Share your very own rescue story here!