Pepper Squeaky Farley: 2010-2025

Pepper Squeaky Farley

June 26, 2010-May 7, 2025

On May 7, 2025, our beautiful cat Pepper was put to sleep after a year-long battle with kidney failure, concluding our 14-year journey with her. Pepper was such a sweet girl the entire time we had her. Her life may be over, but we are going to celebrate her life by looking back at all the fun times we’ve had with her. Here is the story of Pepper’s entire life.

How We Got Pepper (January 22, 2011)

    When I was a little child, I would always love kitty cats. Every Time I was outside and saw a cat, I would follow them around. I also watched the children's cartoon Caillou, and he has a cat named Gilbert. So it became clear that my parents thought I was a cat person and had thought about having a cat in our house. My mom was looking online and knew where to get cats, the Dane County Humane Society. On January 22, 2011, we went to that place to look for cats. Most of the cats she looked at were a bit older or did not fit into our criteria (be tolerant with a child being the main one). But there was one kitten that did not look like a baby or did not have big claws, and knew she would get along with me well. A kind volunteer suggested we meet her in a private room to get to know her. Her name was Squeaky. 

    Squeaky was born on June 26, 2010, at the Dane County Humane Society in Madison, Wisconsin. She loved playing with a ball of yarn and kept on meowing whenever she needed something. 

    Immediately, the first thing I did to her was to pull her tail. My parents were very disappointed and decided not to get a cat, but the lady suggested seeing how it goes. As they were talking to each other, I crawled into the cat tube, and Squeaky jumped on the top of the tower and was batting at me. I then grabbed the ball and threw it at her. It was our first time playing with each other. I pointed at her and called her Gilbert. My parents immediately thought we were definitely bringing this cat home with us. So we officially adopted this cat! They gave her a box to carry from the building to the car. While we were on our way home, my parents thought about a name, and my dad thought she looked like the colors of a Salt n’ Pepper shaker, so they decided to call her Pepper. Later that afternoon, we got her a litter box, a cage, 2 bowls for her food and drinks, and some toys for her to play with.

Pepper’s Golden Years (2011-2022)

    Pepper and I instantly became friends. Whenever I hugged her, I would put my head on her body like a pillow. When my parents would pick me up from preschool, I would tell them I wanted to go home and see Pepper. I would also see Pepper eating or sleeping, telling my parents that each time these happen. 

    She couldn’t be around dogs before 2021. So whenever we would have dogs around for sleepovers, she would go to a special kitty hotel. Examples being November 2012 and July 2014, both times with my uncle from Nebraska bringing some of his dogs to our house. Before we got our dog, during sometimes between 2021 and 2022, we would have my grandma’s little dog over to our house, and she was ok with her, but she would hiss to get her away.

    She was only an inside cat, meaning she couldn’t go outside without any help. A few times in 2020, we would take a walk with her inside a stroller. Every time, she would meow since she wouldn’t go outside as much.

    At first, when we got her, she didn’t like my mom as much. But as time went on, she would sometimes hang out with her, sometimes lying on her chest.

    There were some funny moments with her, and some not-so-good moments during our 14-year tenure with her. For the not-so-good moments, she would sometimes destroy our furniture by scratching it with her claws. And as for the funny moments, after whenever she uses the bathroom, she would usually zip around the house, being frisky (which we coined that in 2020), and acting crazy. She would often beg my dad for food, tiring out my dad every time. She would even sometimes get into the bathtub and lie down in it, making my mom laugh. She may sometimes get up onto the top of the cabinets to avoid a specific thing. Or one time, in the basement, she somehow managed to make her way to the ceiling while my mom was working on fixing up the basement, which made her laugh really hard.

    Whenever I would have therapy at home, she would always follow my therapists around and would sometimes follow them during our team meetings.

    Sometimes during the winter times, she would go under the bed so that she could feel warm. Later on, she would be next to the vent so that she could be warm but still see us.

Pepper’s time with Waylon (2022-2025)

    On April 16, 2022, we adopted our dog Waylon. By then, Pepper had probably gotten used to having a dog around sometimes, but she was not ready to handle having a dog at our house all the time. So whenever Waylon got too close to her, sniffed her butt, tormented her, or got too aggressive when playing, she would hiss at him, which I found very funny.

    Afterwards, we slowly started to drift away from her so that we could focus more on Waylon. But we continued to take care of her, and we continued to love her.

    We moved her eating spot to the basement since Waylon couldn’t go in through the cat door, and that way he wouldn’t touch her food. As time went on, she sometimes drank water out of Waylon’s dish. So my parents decided to put her water dish right next to his dish.

    By the time we got Waylon, her health was doing great, and she was doing fantastic, until late 2023, when she started to get sick.

Pepper’s declining health and death (December 2023-May 2025)

    One day in November 2023, my parents noticed Pepper throwing up more than normal. So my parents called the vet, and my dad took her to the vet on December 1st. The vet found nothing wrong with her, and she was sent home with nothing to report.

    In January 2024, my parents noticed that she had been using the bathroom more than normally. So my mom took her to the vet on January 19th to get tested, and got the results back three days later on the 22nd, which marked 13 years since we got her. It was found out that she had Stage III Kidney Failure. We talked through this as a family for the next steps with her, and decided to take care of her more than we normally do. We started to feed her some soup and puree to help her not get any worse. When she was looked at again in April and in July 2024, her health was stable, meaning her Kidney failure didn’t get worse.

    On December 10, 2024, she was taken to the vet again so that she could be tested. She thought she looked good, and her kidney failure didn’t get worse. But when the results came back on December 16th, we learned that her kidney failure had increased to a Stage IV, meaning we had to take extra care of her. She was brought back on January 8, 2025, where we found out that her health is stable, meaning she didn’t get better or worse. Over the next few months, she has been doing mostly good, minus throwing up every day.

    One day in April 2025, my parents found out she had been throwing up and having diarrhea more than normal. So we took her to the vet on the 29th, where the vet gave her some medicine, and for my mom to give for the next week. Over the next week, she started getting better, but as the rest of the week and the following week went on, she started eating less. That situation got worse on May 6th. So my parents and I had a talk together about what’s next for her, and we decided to put her down so that she doesn’t get worse. My mom called the vet, and we initially had scheduled to bring her in the next day at about 2:00, but we instead postponed it to 4:45 so that her regular vet could be here. We brought her in on May 7, 2025, where she died peacefully right in front of us. Her remains will be cremated.

    Pepper was such a sweet girl who loved being with us for 14 years. She leaves us a lasting legacy, and we will remember her from our hearts forever. This concludes our story about Pepper. This is how it was.