In Memory of Cleo

In 1990 I moved into a house with 3 friends just off FSU’s campus. I was excited because I finally lived somewhere I could have a cat. One of our roommates, Dorie, already had a cat, Huey, a big, orange, male tabby. I looked in the newspaper for a "free kitten to a good home" ad in the classifieds. One of my other roommates, Carrie, came with me to drive so I could hold the kitten on the ride back home. When we got there, 4 or 5 little furry kittens were in the kitchen. All the kittens kind of scattered when we walked into the kitchen, but not Cleo. She sat there, tiny, looking up at me. It was love at first sight. The cuteness power of the kittens was too much and Carrie also ended up picked out a kitten, Tabitha, since she also missed her family cat back home.

Cleo "helping" me make the bed

Eating was a favorite past time of hers and she got up to 13 pounds at her heaviest. (Tabitha exceeded her at 20 pounds at one point.) Cleo wasn’t a big cat and people would always ask me “is she pregnant?” due to her protruding belly.

Behold the belly

Cleo also loved catnip. She had a “catnip duffle bag” toy she loved – much like Mooch’s “lil pink sock” from the comic “Mutts.”

One time, my roommate at the time, Gaby, and I came home and discovered that Cleo and Sandy had gotten a hold of a bag of catnip and went on a binge. They were sprawled out on the rug in the hall and catnip was everywhere! They even looked like they were smiling.

Cleo and Sandy, her partner in catnip crime.

Cleo also liked playing with pony tail holders and sitting in the sink or tub to drink water.


She also liked to get into things, boxes, bags, drawers. Especially if it was a tight fit, she'd cram herself right in.



Cleo had a beautiful coat, a mishmash of nearly every color fur you could imagine. Black stripes, orange stripes – her left hind leg was almost entirely orange tabby, and I called it her “Frankenstien leg” as if someone had stuck the leg of another cat onto her.

The "Frankenstien" leg.

She had dainty white mittens, chest and some white on her belly. One friend said Cleo looked like she was rusting because of all the redish orange splotches. Another said her coat looks like fudge ripple.


Cleo was a good traveler and always made herself right at home where ever she went. This is a photo of her taken at my in-laws house, Christmas 2005. She even let me do goofy thing like tie bows around her neck. I think she enjoyed posing for the camera.

Cleo also enjoyed sunning herself, rolling around on the warm concrete.

She had a very pampered life. She was a lap cat and would let me hold her and carry her around. Anytime Greg or I would sit down, she'd jump up into our lap. She usually slept with us, and would also snuggle up with house guests or my roomates. She wasn't shy at all.

Cleo turned 16 this March. That's equivalent to an 80 year old human. She started to lose weight the past 6 months, with no real reason why, other than she is old and her body probably couldn't absorb the nutrients as well. Her health took a turn for the worse the last month. The vet tried a number of things but it Cleo's body was old and tired and it was her time. She joins Sandy and Tabitha in kitty heaven.