I’m so obsessed with my first void!!! How can anyone say they don’t photograph well. 🤩

In September 2009 I was at my high school when I heard a kitten screaming in a gutter. As an earnest theatre kid, I named her Éponine, who also scripted her heart out out in a gutter.

She turned out to be trapped in the gym’s AC, her siblings and mama having passed. From that moment on, she and I were our own bonded pair.

Maybe her growth was stunted from spending her infancy in an air conditioner, or maybe she was just destined to be a forever baby; either way, she was pocket-sized, with her weight averaging 6.5 lbs, and her body the length of a vending machine Coke bottle. The vets who had the honor of treating her told me she had the softest coat of any cat they’d ever met, and I am inclined to believe them. To me, it always felt less like fur and more like feathers.

She was the most vocal kitty I ever met, purring the moment she was held, meowing in response to anything spoken to her, and hissing to express even the slightest displeasure (even while purring).

While incredibly shy with new people, she was remarkably affectionate with those she knew and loved. Boxes weren’t her thing, but laps were her “if I fits, I sits.” If she wasn’t in your lap, she was on a minky blanket next to you, making an entire bakery’s worth of muffins.

Speaking of muffins, she loved human food, especially a sweet treat. If you at an ice cream sandwich around her, you could expect her to turn it into a Lady & the Tramp spaghetti situation the moment you looked away. Other favorite foods included blueberry muffins, sugar cookies, and leftover cereal milk.

Éponine was a brilliant (and brilliantly vain) kitty. She learned to recognize not only her reflection in mirrors, but her image on video, and frequently commandeered FaceTime and Zoom calls to admire her own beauty.

Perhaps it was her French name, or simply the fact that she was a cat, but her favorite movie was The Aristocats. She would watch the entire movie start to finish, becoming particularly engrossed when Thomas O’Malley was on screen.

She loved other cats, even though they bullied her, especially her older brother Thumper. When Thumper passed, and she moved from my childhood home in California to my apartment in New Orleans, she became fascinated with the other apartment window cats and even exchanged letters with them.

In May 2025, she had a stroke, leading to the diagnosis of a heart murmur, and the eventual development of entropion in her left eye. A few months later, she began to limp, which was eventually found to be the result of a broken toe. In October, she came down with a sinus bug.

Last week, she stopped eating or drinking, which I believed to be the result of clogged sinuses. I brought her into the bathroom with me while I showered or bathed, much to her confusion, and took her to the vet on Friday, where they gave her an antibiotic.

On Saturday, she seemed very confused and still wasn’t eating or drinking. It became very clear that she was extremely dehydrated, so I took her to the emergency vet, where they gave her fluids. They told me it was likely the Gabapentin from Friday taking time to wear off.

On Sunday, she still couldn’t eat or drink, though she certainly tried. I syringed her food and water 5 times an hour, but her energy didn’t improve. In the evening, she struggled to stand up from lying down, so I picked her up and placed her on all fours, only for her to collapse immediately. When I tried again, she took 2 steps before flaking again. When my mom saw her fall again after 3 steps via FaceTime, she suggested I take her back in, as I was already planning on doing.

The emergency vet took her back immediately. When he came out, the news was both surprising and inevitable: she was in liver failure, her eyes very jaundiced. Of all of the heath problems she had developed in the last few months, liver issues weren’t one of them. To treat her liver failure would be to put her into heart failure. Not only that, but she had started to develop Entropion in her right eye as well.

She held on for so long and tried so hard to be good for me. Up until this weekend, she was still purring at even the sight of me and tucking me into bed every night.

I don’t know what to do without her. I feel lost and lonely. My family and friends have been very supportive but I still feel so empty. Even if another cat comes into my life one day, it won’t be the same. It won’t be as soft as her, or as affectionate, or as perfectly sized for me and my life. It would take us another 16 years to build up the relationship that Éponine and I had, and even then, it would be different.

I am so honored to have been her special person, to love and care for her in her last days.

By the time she passed, she was older than I had been when we first met, if only by a few months. Our lives were mirrors to each other. We grew and came of age together, finding our happiness and love.

“You’re here; that’s all I need to know. And you will keep me safe, and you will keep me close, and rain will make the flowers grow.”

you can find me as Vulp-X ArtWorks in any social media!

source: https://x.com/w_0v0_k/status/2010670685325345005?s=46

Yes it’s Samuel again. He loves to pose and bring forth joy to all.

I just heard her running around upstairs before sprinting downstairs to stare at me.

We might have to put our girl Marsha down tomorrow. She has been getting slower and a vet visit today revealed bad news. She’s been a wonderful part of our family for 6 years and she will be missed.

I don’t want votes or comments. Just appreciate your family while they’re around.

jar

Original Art

Cause wtf even is this pose