Tori is a tortoiseshell cat, who came to live with us on May 28, 2009. She was about 2 years old then. She had been living with a member of our church, but he had to move into assisted living and could not take her with him. He called her “Torti” because of her colors, but we dropped the “t” and just call her “Tori”.

She was a small cat, about six pounds when she first came to live with us, but grew to about nine pounds in her prime.

She arrived at our home after we had acquired digital cameras and smart phones with cameras so we have more photos of her than our earlier pets.

At her previous owner’s, she was accustomed to being outside. Outside, she definitely was a hunter. Her previous owner said that she could kill squirrels. Once we saw her enter the woodchuck’s den under the neighbor’s deck. Happily, neither was she injured nor did she bring a woodchuck to our door. Occasionally, but rarely, we would find the remains of a bird or chipmunk at our door. Sometimes she would bring us a baby rabbit. Not what we want, but we don’t want to lock her indoors either.

Her hunting instincts did help keep down the mice in the house.

Generally, Tori was shy. When she first came to live with us, we had an older, large male cat named Roy. Tori deferred to Roy until he died in 2014. After then she was more outgoing, but still shy.

She liked to be petted, when she decided that she wanted to be petted. At those times, she would fall on her side on a rug and drag herself around in circles while her forehead and back were rubbed. She might also climb up in someone’s lap if that person were still enough. Being combed was also good. Initially, she would shy away from people who came near her. For years, when children came into the house, she would disappear, not to be seen until hours after they left. All that changed as she grew older. In 2021, she allowed herself to be seen by our granddaughter Abby. After that she was bolder with adults and children alike, even checking out the sleeping 2-month-old grandson Morgan in 2023.

She enjoyed relaxing on soft cushions. We had a heated pad that helped warm her bed during the cold months. Sunshine coming through the window helped too.

In the end, she had trouble eating. She stopped eating dry food altogether. She would nibble a little of her wet food, go to her bed, then come back shortly afterwards to nibble more. This would be repeated through the day and when the next feeding time came, there would still be large amounts of food in her dish. Her weight shrank, reaching 4.3 pounds at the end. The vet thought she had a growth in her throat and that there was no treatment for it.

We had her put to sleep in Al’s arms on August 11, 2026.

Responsible: Al Holm
Created: 20 Jan 2019; updated 23 Aug 2026