My sweet cottage cat crosses the rainbow bridge

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Every cottage needs a cat. For 16 years, this sweet, tiny patch-tabby named Lily has been my cottage cat – and my constant companion. She’s the first cat I ever had that actually responded when called by name, or would come to me when I called her even if I wasn’t shaking the treat can.

Cottage Cat Lily 2007-2023


She was so vocal it was easy to catch her in what I called “mid-sentence” – I have several pictures of her meowing and they always make me laugh.

Cottage Cat Lily 2007-2023


She’s also the only cat I ever saw do what Garfield used to call the nap attack: plant face-down into a comforter or pillow and just… be asleep.

Cottage Cat Lily 2007-2023
Cottage Cat Lily 2007-2023


She could curl up into a ball less than 12 inches in diameter, or sprawl out with one foot outstretched in command of her chosen surface.

Cottage Cat Lily 2007-2023
Cottage Cat Lily 2007-2023


Her true age is unknown. We adopted her from a neighbor in 2008, when she was at least a year old. Within a week of coming to our house, she went into kidney failure. The neighbor and I split the cost of a very basic treatment based on a guess that it was stress-related. She survived and went on to live 15 more healthy, happy, spoiled years.

Cottage Cat Lily 2007-2023

She moved with me when I divorced in 2014, first to an apartment, then to “the dollhouse” and later to the mobile home, Lynnwood Cottage. When I began working full-time from home in March, 2020, the cottage cat became my immediate supervisor.

Cottage Cat Lily 2007-2023

She disliked having her picture taken and always seemed to know if that’s what you were up to. She’d put her ears just slightly back in a look of annoyance.

Cottage Cat Lily 2007-2023

She loved to be petted, but hated to be picked up or carried around. She loved treats, licks of butter, and tiny bites of cheese. If I was walking from one end of the house to the other she’d try to lead the way, but always just a little too slow and always looking back over her shoulder to see if I had “turned off” into the office or bathroom – leading without knowing exactly where she was going.

Cottage Cat Lily 2007-2023


Lily crossed the rainbow bridge on August 11, 2023, approximately age 16. Losing a pet is hard, but having a pet like her for so long was a joy. I miss you already, Poopers.

Cottage Cat Lily 2007-2023

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