Shelf Life of a Cat?

This is our cat, Abby, who decided to be companionable while I was working at the computer yesterday by taking a nap on the lower shelf of the computer table beside me.

I started trying to figure out how old she is. My husband keeps a general log on his computer of significant events, so I checked that.

I found an entry that we adopted Abby in February of 2011. We answered an ad in the newspaper advertising a ‘lap kitty.’ I’m not sure how old she was when we got her, but when we took her to be checked by our veterinarian, he told us she was pregnant! We weren’t in a position to be able to take care of a litter, so reluctantly Abby had an abortion, was spayed, and got the shots she needed all at one time. She is now 12 or 13.

She has the run of the house, preferring to sleep in a cat cube on top of the wood pile in the garage at night. She also eats there. The rest of the time she is inside sitting on my husband, me, or the middle of one of the dog beds in the house. She is, indeed, a lap kitty. She is very affectionate, though she has one of the wimpiest purrs I’ve ever heard. You can FEEL the purr, but it’s hard to HEAR it.