IN MEMORIAM

of

 GRANDPAWS ALOPECIA AREATA (Allie)

ANGELFIRE'S FIRST SPHYNX AND THE MOTHER OF THE ANGELFIRE LINES

Allie passed on Saturday, June 4, 2005 - she did not suffer to our knowledge, just passed quickly and suddenly - she had received a clean bill of health from the vet not weeks ago so this was a shock to both her owners and myself - she was almost 11 years old.  Allie was a gift from my husband for our wedding.  I had wanted a sphynx for years, but the timing and the $$ had never been right.   Then we found Allie.  We lived in Oklahoma at the time and she was our only pet.  We were uneducated, first time hopeful breeders/showers and met some wonderful people to help us make good breeding decisions with the right stud when that time came.  That was Carol & Walt Richards who were so kind to lend us their beautiful boy Indigo  Her first, and only litter of kittens were a handful and we enjoyed every minute of them.  Here is a picture of them at 4/5 months old at my in-law's home in Angelfire, New Mexico which is where we got the name for our cattery.

When our son Austin was born in 2000 it became clear to us that Allie would not be the center of attention she was used to being.  We had moved to Nashville, TN by then and, with much heartache and back-and-forth we decided to place her with a wonderful family here in the area where she would once again, be the center of attention.  It was almost like losing a child to me as I have told Mary Hill who adopted Allie.  I would see her face in all our cats and it took weeks to get over the loss of not having her in our home any longer.

Mary has shared some of her experiences with Allie in the few years that she had her and I would like to share them with you all as well.  There are very special animals and they should be recognized for not only their love and devotion to us, but the extraordinary circumstances they can find themselves in, which actually includes saving our own lives.  Here are some comments from Mary:

I found our girl in my bedroom on the floor.  She was not breathing or moving.  I was distraught.  There was no bringing her back.  I called the vet and talked to him.  He said it sounded like maybe natural causes or heart failure considering her age.  He said the only way he could be for sure was to do an necropsy.  Arden, I just couldn't let them do that to her.

This house is cold and lonely without her.  She was the light of our lives.  She brought so much joy and pleasure to us.  I know that you know what I am talking about.  She was the sweetest little thing.  My husband and I called her "our baby", and she was his buddy and my best friend.  She was ever faithful, knew our schedules to a tee, and would fuss if someone came home late.  She was truly a good mother, she mothered us.

I think I emailed you about the time she woke me when a spark from the fireplace caught the carpet on fire.  She saved my life!  What happened was that I was in bed with a cold/flu during the day.  I had started a fire in the fireplace to help warm the house as it was so cold outside.  I went into the bedroom to lay down and fell asleep.  Sometime while I was sleeping, a wood chip popped out of the fireplace and fell onto the carpet.  It started burning the carpet.  It was a smoldering fire, smoke filled the living room.  Allie was running from the living room to my bedroom and she would jump on my bed meowing.  When I didn't get up, she would tear back into the living room then return to my bed just fussing.  I woke up and smelled the smoke.  Carpet burning has an awful odor so I immediately jumped to find out what happened. She met me in the living room as to show me what was wrong.  After I put the fire out, I realized that she saved my life.  I knew she was special from the start, but that was when I started to realize how extremely special and smart she really was.

She also found my skin cancer that I had on my face.  She would smell my cheek, same spot every night.  She would breathe through her mouth, then would bite that same spot.  I had that place checked, and sure enough, it was skin cancer.  They burnt it off and after it healed, Allie would start doing the smelling and biting, so I went back, and the cancer was back.  They did more extensive treatment, and so far, it is all gone.  She was truly a queen and I miss her so much.  I loved her with all of my heart and soul.  She was precious, Arden.  She loved us so much, too.  We would make special trips for "chicken take out" cause it was her favorite.  She loved KFC, but also this little family owned Chinese restaurant would make her sweet and sour chicken without the sauce and she loved that.

 Allie was the best sleeper ever.  Our bed was her bed, and we had a nightly ritual, every night.  I would leave the bed unmade all day long for her to take naps it, but every night before bed, I would make the bed and she would get so excited.  After the bed was made, she would prance around it and we would make over her saying "AWWW she's so pretty".  And she was she knew that.  Then she would roll over on her back for us to kiss on her tummy.  Then we would get her toys and play on the bed awhile, then go to sleep.  I think that this was her favorite time of the day. 

I miss her so much.  She was my best friend,  pal, and my baby girl.  Love you always Allie and thank you for everything. 

Love, Mary Hill

This is our favorite picture of Allie, buried in the clean, warm towels.  I think her life was happy and fulfilled and we could not have ever found a better "second" family for her in the world.   She did not win any awards for us, but that was neither here nor there during that phase of our learning experience.  Allie is the epitome of what a sphynx is - companion, care-giver and a joy and light to add to our lives.

A word from me to Allie:   Thank you for being such a wonderful companion.  Thank you for being the beginning of what I hoped would be a credit to the sphynx breed.  Thank you for your love and understanding.  Thank you for being such a good mother and the quality of those kittens is still coming through and growing stronger with each generation.  I love you,  I still miss your face and your little chirps that I could understand as if you were speaking English.  I will never have another pet like you again.  You began my love for this special breed and we have never had any other breed to this day in our home or in our breeding program. 

For those of you who may be interested to see if Allie is in your pedigree down the line, here is a small copy.

Allie, we love you and will miss you so and will be looking for you over the Rainbow Bridge - I'm sure God will let Mary and I share ;-)  Arden Gatlin-Andrews & Mary Hill