October 31, 2002 – September 14, 2018
It was love at first sight when we met Gracie in an animal rescue van in Iowa City. We knew that she would make the perfect addition to our family so she came to live with us and our Siamese cat April May.
Gracie had many adventures and misadventures during her early years including spending one of her nine lives on a fall from a very tall, back yard pine tree. Her human girls, Stina and Lexi, loved to romp and play with their beloved kitty and took turns for the privilege of having her sleep on their bed.
Gracie Boo was an avid mouser and, much to the chagrin of her bird loving humans, birder. She was forced to wear a neoprene bib when outside to disable her bird catching skills. Like everything else she did, she handled it with dignity and grace and proudly pussy footed around the yard as if there was no impediment.
Three more kitties joined Gracie and our family and although she happily welcomed Tabitha as a new playmate, she was not so thrilled with the additions of ZuZu and Felina. As time passed she began to tolerate, then to love them both. Grace always made it known however, that she was the senior member of our kitty family. Sometimes this was by exerting her rights to a lap and other times it was giving the “eye” that conveyed “I could be there/do that if I really wanted”. She also reveled in her superior yard privileges in her later years and would occupy her chair as she guarded the yard.
Gracie also loved the water, be it in an unattended glass or a sink.
On Halloween 2017, Gracie’s 15th birthday, she was diagnosed with bladder cancer and the next week it was discovered that she also had heart disease. A few rounds of chemo and many heart medications allowed us almost another year with our sweet girl.
She spent the past summer at the lake basking in the sun on the deck and investigating the property. On her last day at the cabin she finally ventured out on the dock and checked out the fish in the water.
Gracie was thrilled to return to our Cedar Rapids home where she spent her final days doing the things she loved around the family that she loved.
Gracie Boo is survived by her human family Kathy, Neal, Stina and Lexi and her feline siblings Tabitha, ZuZu and Felina. She joins April May and our other beloved pets and family in the afterlife. Godspeed Gracie.
