Chippy Says Goodbye

In the early morning of 2019's last day, Chippy, the 18-year-old cat, fell into an eternal sleep. As considerate as ever, she left unobtrusively to let her loved ones celebrate a new year and a new decade.

Chippy was named after Mrs. Chippy, a cat owned by Harry "Chippy" McNish, a carpenter on Sir Ernest Shackleton's Trans-Antarctic Expedition of 1914-1917. She was always as overly attentively as her namesake was with McNish. When barely a kitten herself, Chippy made sure the teenager Nick would get enough sleep, by trotting to lie at the foot of his bed every night. Whenever Grandma Jindi visited Santa Cruz, Chippy would follow her everywhere. The two of them spent many mornings together listening to exercise tapes, while Grandma was doing Tai Chi. She was truly worried when Grandma suffered from one of her Alzheimer's episodes and was stuck outside the door for hours. Chippy managed to get along with a team of caregivers when her adopted parents had to travel overseas or out of state to take care of the ailing Grandma many times a year.

Being pure white, Chippy lived a polite and peaceful indoor life. Unlike some Homo sapiens whose greed knows no bounds, she was the epitome of contentment with her daily provisions, water and wheat grass, Iams cat food, and Johnny Cat litter. If there was something else she wanted, she would wait for her turn, and meow back after the wait was acknowledged. As the only cat in the household, she spent her spare time grooming and creating games to play. Until she could no longer jump, she would play a relay game with her family members by taking a computer duster from the pen-holder on the desk, and depositing it somewhere to be discovered.

Being a feline, Chippy might be equipped with mouse-catching capability, but not with a killer's instinct. When the garage was visited by rodents, she was anxious to investigate, but at a loss as to what to do when she actually caught one in her paws. Although she was the runt of her litter, Chippy refused to be bullied. One Christmas, a family friend came to stay with his full-sized German shepherd Stella. For her safety, the 10-poound Chippy was separated to a different room. On the third day, she ventured out and walked step by step toward Stella, without losing eye contact, like a stalking lioness.

Chippy is survived by her litter brother Elijah of Scotts Valley, brother Nick (and family) of Pleasanton, and parents Paul and Hui-Lan Titangos of Santa Cruz. On behalf of Chippy, the family would like to express their gratitude to her caretakers, Dody Anderson, Tom Dilbeck, Tyler Caceres, Rick "Peanut" Rizzo, and Linda Lippy. They would also like to thank the Santa Cruz County Animal Shelter and her veterinarian, Dr. Gary Roussopoulous, for his lifelong professional service and care.