Our beloved, unique, demanding little kitty Spackle Puss passed away in her sleep Sunday night. Leslie and I are saddened at this loss. Spackle has been a daily part of our lives for over 14 years. We've begun to notice many small emptinesses caused by her absence - most especially at dinner time. She was a tiny cat yet always first in line (and very hungry and very vocal about it!) whenever food was being prepared.
Click on pictures for enlargements. Hold your mouse over them for a very brief description plus the year the photo was taken.
Of course Spackle has been part of Mixed Meters' essential ongoing coverage of our pets. In 14+ years I've taken lots of pictures of Spackle. This post shows mostly previously unposted pics. If you have plenty of time to kill you can review all previoius MM posts tagged "Cats". Here's a Google search for previous pictures of Spackle.
Spackle Puss never spent a day of her life separated from her twin brother, Crackle Pop. They were inseparable at first although their relationship became less cordial as they aged. We chose them from a litter of five. Here's the introductory blog post about their arrival.
Some pictures of Spackle and Crackle together:
Their markings were so similar that they were often hard to tell apart. She was smaller, softer and had no tabby markings. And she had several unique habits including the desire to lick human skin - often quite painfully for the human. Also she drooled a lot - sometimes leaving an annoyingly large wet patch on your clothing. Despite that, she was a cute kitty.
Spackle's most unique marking was the light colored stripes behind her ears, along the edges. The name 'Spackle' was suggested by one of the ladies in the cat rescue group who had said the ear coloration reminded her of actual spackle. We never understood exactly why. Spackle just seemed like a good name for a cat and it inspired her brother's name. We added the "Puss" to make her full name "Spackle Puss" because both Leslie and I like to name things.
Here are some pics that show her ear stripes:
Yes, that last picture shows Spackle in a box. How very catlike. Here are plenty more pictures of Spackle hunkered down inside of things:
Here is a very short video (with music) of Spackle Puss in (and out of) a box:
Here is Spackle after indulging in some cat drugs.
I found a number of pictures showing her with computers. I guess Spackle felt that humans needed help in their work.
Here's one of my first YouTube videos. It shows Spackle Puss hunting a hummingbird on my computer monitor. (All our cats are indoor only. Spackle never spent even one moment of her life outside hunting real birds.)
And now . . . another Mixed Meters Meta Moment: a picture of Spackle watching the video of herself hunting a video of a hummingbird.
Here are three shots of Spackle with Leslie. In the first one, Spackle seems to be checking Leslie's worm IDs. Leslie started referring to Spackle as her 'supervisor'.
Finally, here's Spackle's last picture, about a month ago. Spackle had decided she was comfortable sleeping on top of a shelf of ring binders. She could watch Leslie at work from this spot. By this point she was all skin and bones and it was clear that she didn't have much time left.
Leslie and I are so sorry to see you go, little kitty. I hope you enjoyed your stay with us, whatever that means for a cat. We enjoyed having you around.
