A cat should not be reduced to its mortality. These stories include illness and loss because those things happened, but the life is the reason the ending hurt: breakfasts numbered beyond reason, laptops occupied, towels litigated, judges lectured, chicken demanded, and human schedules reorganized without meaningful consultation.
Each cat was known as an individual. That is the record worth keeping.
Queen Emma
Three clean towels
Emma is a good mom. Emma is labor intensive. Emma is persnickety.
Read Queen Emma’s story →
Elf
Small. Not frail.
Tiny, enormous ears, and an appetite that eventually required a numbered breakfast system.
Read Elf’s story →
Charm
Worth more than a dozen grands
Not the showiest cat. The queen who let everyone sleep.
Read Charm’s story →
Ollie
The wisest boy
The Grand Premier who brought me back to the breed and taught Mrs. UltraVires to love cats.
Read Ollie’s story →
Dresden
Leader of his people
Grand Premier. Office cat. Kitten professor. Greatest cat ever.
Read Dresden’s story →
Hobbes
Chicken whenever you want it
The little emperor, his weird rituals and demands, and the cost of loving him.
Read Hobbes’s story →
Gumby
My shadow for thirteen years
The San-Toi Siamese who chose one person—and whose mother remains in every current UltraVires pedigree.
Read Gumby’s story →
Brady
Definitely my cat
The impossible show cat, and the friend who stayed beside a sick child.
Read Brady’s story →The stories make arguments too
Naiche explains why matching is not selling. Emma exposes the invisible labor. Charm shows why a title is not a complete breeding judgment. Gumby makes the pedigree personal. Ollie, Hobbes, and Elf had illnesses that changed later decisions, but first they had rituals, appetites, offices, friends, and strong views about the administration. The essays gather the arguments without replacing the cats who made them necessary.