This is my entry for the Pet Tribute Contest hosted by 
We bought Gem as a small kitten at a pet store at the mall. The store had an entire litter in one of its glass displays. All of her brothers and sisters were black and/or white. We picked her out because she was the only female 100% black cat. At first we called her Snowball as a joke and it stuck for a while, but later we settled on Gem because of her soft black velvety fur.
We kept her an indoor cat though she was naturally very wild. She grew to be 15 pounds which is huge for a short-haired female cat. Gem was the type of cat that would get fat tail, hump back, and move back and forth in semicircles when she saw herself in the mirror. We had glass windows that went down to the floor so from time to time she had face to face through the glass aggressive encounters with other animals including other cats, raccoons, and squirrels. She was terrified of a few things including strangers and loud noises. She would hide in the closets for hours if we had visitors or even if she heard children yelling and screaming outside and mistakenly believed that we were about to have company. She would also hide if she heard really loud noises such as thunder, a street cleaner, or firecrackers. Fourth of July was definitely her least favorite holiday.
Gem was also extremely playful and required at least an hour or two of play each day to get the energy out. She was a cat that actually loved playing fetch as much as a dog. Sometimes she would bring her fetch toys to me out of nowhere and drop them next to me. She also liked chasing and playing with string. Sometimes the string would get her so excited that she would jump straight up in the air. At least once a day, she would sprint through the house as fast as she could.
During her last year (her 18th), Gem slowed down a lot, lost weight, and calmed down. Her increased calmness resulted in her being more inquisitive and curious. For example, earlier in her life she hated riding in the car and would even start panting she was so upset by it. During this later period she actually enjoyed riding in the car. She seemed mesmerized by the fact that she was sitting still and yet she was moving and she could look around. Also, she would let strangers pet her. She still did not really like it but she at least tolerated it. However, this increased curiosity led to a premonition of her death. A few weeks before she died, she managed to prop open a door and went outside. It led to a pretty desperate search as it was late in the evening and a black cat would be impossible to search for after dark. Miraculously, she was found under a tree in our yard at dusk after about an hour of searching. Even after she died, I was still traumatized by this incident and how close I came to losing her without having any closure to the end of her life.
I chose not to go into graphic detail of her final day. But I will just say that she died at home and was buried in our backyard the same day. In the first month after she died, many nights I had dreams about her and oddly she was still alive in these dreams. For the first week, in my dreams she was still alive as if nothing had changed or was wrong. It was as if her death had not fully soaked into my consciousness. However after the first week, in my dreams I was surprised to find her alive because I knew she had died. I would wonder things like how she had come back to life, how long it would last, and what age she was now that she was alive again. After the first month, I gradually had fewer and fewer dreams about her.
Now I sometimes wonder if my backyard is haunted. On Halloween when I look around at the vegetation in the yard, I almost expect to see her running through it.