RIP Pork Chop
Pork Chop is the oldest cat I've ever had. We don't remember exactly how old she was, but I remember her already being an adult when my brother was in 2nd grade. That makes her at least 17 or 18 years.
We don't know for sure she's gone, but Mom says there's tufts of fur in front of the shed and she hasn't seen Pork Chop in a few days.
I'm just going to talk now so I don't forget, so you can keep reading anecdotes or move on.
Pork Chop was the kitten of Smokey and Tidbit. I don't remember who else was in her litter, but they've all been gone for probably a decade now. She was my brother's cat, which just means he named her. She was named after my best friend's cat Pork Chop, who, in turn, was named after the dog Pork Chop on the cartoon Doug. I'd wanted to name her Africa because she had a tabby spot on her side the exact shape of the continent.
Pork Chop didn't start out as an overly friendly cat. You could pet her, but she wasn't going to come up asking for attention. That changed for whatever reason when Tidbit died. I guess that's when she took over as the Alpha cat. No more of this male alpha nonsense, she'd beat the crap out of them. That's one of our theories on how she died, it wouldn't have occurred to her that a blind, likely deaf, elderly kitty couldn't take some big tomcat in his prime.
Anyway, she became much more friendly. When I came home from college for a weekend, she sit on the front porch and look in the kitchen windows in case I wanted to come outside at 3:00 am and pet her. And more often than not, I did.
She was a good hunter. She'd go after squirrels, even though they were as big or bigger than she was. Her favorite prey was sparrows, which she could pluck right out of the air. I've seen her do it. A group of sparrows was flying around everywhere, fighting with each other, and she jumped up and grabbed one. Another night, we'd been out, so the cats were getting fed later than usual. Pork Chop apparently thought that meant we hadn't been able to catch any food, so, while I was sitting on the porch, she brought me a sparrow. Set it down beside me and waited until I told her I wasn't hungry before she ate it.
Pork Chop also liked going on walks with Mom and me in the park next to our house. It would be over 100 degrees and she'd be very pregnant and still following us on the whole 1 mile walk, with us telling her to stop and go home the entire trip. Eventually, we started trying to trick her, so she wouldn't see us leave for a walk. It didn't always work.
Pork Chop is survived by her niece and roommate Trouble, her granddaughter Lucky, her boyfriend Lupe (pronounced 'loop.' shut up), and who knows how many other descendants.