Jybow died today at 3:00 P.M.

R.I.P. my sweet Jybow. She was Jimmy’s buddy and now they can be together again. Jybow never stopped waiting at the door for Jimmy to come out, but now her wait is over.

Jybow came to us in the Fall of the year that our sweet doggy PJ had passed on in August. Jybow was the same color as PJ and we saw her as a blessing sent down from heaven to ease our pain from losing PJ.

Jimmy loved Jybow and kept her close to him. She slept between the buttons of his flannel shirts, she was that small and needed much attention. She came to us as a sick little cat with crusted over sore eyes, needing a bath desperately and de-fleaing.  

After being here a week she looked much better and seemed to love being the center of our attention. She was a very smart kitten and learned how to fetch right away. I loved eating Smarties candies and I would roll up all of my Smarty paper wrappers into small balls and Jybow and I would play with them on the bed. I would toss them over to her and she would swat them back to me, but one day the smartie ball fell on the floor and she quickly jumped off the bed to retrieve it, so that we could continue to play. It was then that I decided to start slowly throwing the smartie balls a little farther and farther each time and Jybow would always fetch them back to the bed so that we could continue to play. It wasn't long that I was throwing the balls across the bedroom, thru the living room and passed the hallway and into the far bedroom. She always hunted the smartie balls down and brought them back to me. That's how the fetching got started and soon after that I could toss one of PJ's stuffed little monkeys the same way and she would fetch it back to me or to Jimmy.

Jybow became more like a dog. She followed Jimmy everywhere and stuck to him like glue. They became inseparable. She didn't like using a little box so Jimmy would let her out whenever she asked. Jimmy often laughed and said that he felt like a doorman for Jybow, always letting her in and out. She never had an accident inside and when we thought that we would be gone for an extended amount of time we would put her outside. She loved being outside, so she didn't mind at all but was always there waiting to greet us when we came back home.

Jybow was a very happy cat full of life. I fed her only dry cat food and she seemed very satisfied with that until one day after a trip, my daughter Suzanne told me that Jybow loved chicken sandwiches. I told her that Jybow wouldn't eat anything but dry cat food, but Suzanne proved me wrong. For Suzanne she would gladly share a sandwich with Suzanne. Jybow continued to eat dry cat food until about a year ago when I discovered that she had lost some of her teeth, so I started feeding her wet cat food.

We are all very saddened by Jybow's death, especially her cat friend Squeak. Squeak didn't want to leave her side today, so we both remained with Jybow until she crossed over the Rainbow Bridge. I buried her in the backyard next to PJ, Daisy, Callie, Little Harley and HopALong.

Jybow was the oldest cat that I ever had. She remained with us for about 19-20 years. I'll really miss her.

I love you Jybow!