Echo

Echo was Psyche's sister. We adopted them together from the Humane Society in 1999. We lost Echo in the summer of 2001 when she escaped the house and was never seen again.

Echo

She was the most even-tempered of our cats, and she seemed to tie Phred and Psyche together, as a sort of social glue. For that reason, we decided, after doing everything we could to find Echo, to get a new kitten, Chester.

When we adopted Echo and Psyche, they were about six months old then. The Humane Society described them as "welfare cases" - several cats and kittens brought in from one household, presumably because their owners couldn't afford to keep them. We were looking for one kitten, but they had a "two-for-one" sale: two adoptions for the price of one, including spay/neuter and all other initial adoption fees. We didn't think we needed two more cats, but finally we decided it made sense. (Our friend and roommate, Sam, kept saying, "Get two!" He broke us down.) Echo was the one who charmed us first, and since she was in the same cage with her sister, and they were piled happily upon each other, we got both Echo and Psyche.

Psyche & Echo

As usual, it took us a while to name them. I was interested in names from Greek mythology, and searched to the names of two sisters, but couldn't find any that I liked, or that a normal person could pronounce. I finally proposed Echo and Psyche, both names from Greek myths that I've always enjoyed as stories. Echo was a nymph who Zeus enlisted to distract Hera while he was off having affairs. Echo would talk incessantly to Hera, so she wouldn't notice where Zeus had gone. When Hera discovered the trick, she cast a spell on Echo that made her only able to repeat what she heard. Later, Echo fell in love with Narcissus, who was beautiful but had no interest in any of the women who pursued him. She followed him everywhere, repeating after him, until only her voice remained. Finally, Nemesis, the Goddess of Vengence, caused him to become mesmerized by his own reflection in a pool, until he died there and a flower grew in his place, which was called the Narcissus.

Our Echo was a very mellow, sweet cat. She wasn't exactly a lap cat, but rather spent time sitting near people. She was the underdog of our cat family and was regularly tackled by the others, but it was never severe, just affectionate cat play. She was usually the first to greet us when we get up, tackling our ankles and rolling on our feet. When we were outside on the porch, she pawed at the window as if trying to get out to join us. If we locked the cats out of the bedroom overnight, Echo pawed on the door many times through the night and morning. When guests came to visit, Echo was the least shy of the two kittens, while with us Psyche was the most outwardly social.