Today I buried my beloved Patches. I held her in my arms as she left her body and buried her under the evergreen trees. Patches seemed to understand English. She loved “Petting Station” and “Bye Bye Nite Nite” (she would climb on the bed and get her goodnight petting. A couple of times she rested her head in the palm of my hand and her little paw was on my wrist. She was a pastel tortie calico. I inherited her from her previous owner who rented a room in his home to me when I first arrived in OR. Like Asha of beloved memory she was a good cat and boon companion. She taught me a lot about interspecies communication and unconditional love.

— Karen from Florence, OR