Sugar Plum

Sugar Plum, or Miss Plum as I called her, had been through some rough times in her life. In February Sugar Plumof 2006, at nine years old, she was found inside a box in a dumpster and brought to the San Clemente Animal Shelter. She was adopted just a few short months later and lived with her adopter until she came to live with us in October of 2008.

She was a resident of the Lower House until the mudslide of 2009 when all cats had to be moved to the Upper House for over a year while the Lower House was being repaired. She enjoyed the peace and quiet of the Lower House and we weren’t sure how she would do after the move, but she settled in just fine.

She had a beautiful long black and white coat and loved being pet and getting gentle brushings. She loved treats and chicken and would stand on her hind legs to be handfed Friskies shreds. When I brought in cooked chicken, she would follow me around looking up and begging with her quiet little meow. Who could resist that?

Sugar PlumOver the years with us, she had been being treated for several health conditions and had been doing well but they finally caught up with her all at once. When I came to work on Saturday, August 17th, she greeted me in the main room but as I was passing out plates of food for breakfast, she seemed a little wobbly on her feet and was not interested in eating and walked away. Well that wasn’t normal. I finished feeding and giving morning meds and checked back in on her and she just didn’t seem like she felt well. I took her into Skyler’s room and set up a bed on the floor because she still seemed unsteady. I tried several of her favorite foods and she seemed like she wanted to eat but would turn away from all but one and that one, she only licked. She had been treated for chest congestion recently and her breathing was a little off as well.

I took her down to our vet and her bloodwork was terrible with multiple things wrong and at that point it was decided it was best to let her go before her condition worsened. Annie, our Assistant Director was about 45 minutes away, so I wrapped Plum in a blanket and took her outside into the sunshine for the last time. We laid down on the grass and she seemed to like that a lot and she sniffed the blades of grass. It was pretty warm in the sun so after while I took her into the shade and she stretched out her neck and sniffed the air and watched the birds and butterflies. I told her we would miss her and told her about the Rainbow Bridge. Our 16 year old girl fought a brave fight. Run in Paradise with the butterflies, Miss Plum! We will miss you!