The story behind Cool Cat Chamomile

Tosha Phillips
Aug 14, 2024
9 min read

ILY (I Love You) is the coolest little kitty around, just ask the neighbors! She loves to visit everybody & strut her stuff purring all cute rolling around on the warm sidewalk wanting someone to pet her, until she doesn’t want you to...thus her other nickname, Ilcifier. Just like this kitty, chamomile tea has the flower power to keep you cool, calm and collected. Drink it iced on a hot day or warm with honey on a cold night, either way its cool.

Although I initially didn't want more cats, somehow I ended up with 3 and 2 in the end! I wonder if some moms have similar thoughts but don't express them, never will I ever when you are younger and then bam! I do genuinely adore animals, much like I do children; they are adorable and often affectionate but can be a handful at times. Despite this, they bring immense joy and are ultimately worth it in the end and can't imagine never having either in my life at some point. I will recount how our cat Ily transformed into the cool feline she is today. It was a lengthy journey of me trying to avoid getting a cat initially, but perhaps it was meant to happen or simply my stubbornness and resistance at play, believing I knew what was best...

So growing up we had lots of cats, they were mousers and had a purpose and lived in the barn or shed although we would pet them too, so not completely feral. Well as an adult I let my ex husband and kids convince me to let them have a cat, we knew someone was moving and she was sweet but they couldn't take her, she was a beautiful Siamese named Nala, so we got a regular indoor adult cat, that lived FOREVER! That girl lived for 18 years, which fine, but it was gnarly in the end and at the time I didn't really know about actually knowing when it was time for her to go to kitty heaven and so we just lived out the drooling/dripping from both ends days until she had had enough and the carpet in my 2nd floor had to be replaced, I'm talking the entire thing stripped, subfloor treated and sealed, etc.. (Sorry my fur loving friends, I didn't know then what I know now, after working with my friends at Affordable Pet Care in Stanwood, I learned a lot about animals, signs, end of life, etc.) Anyway, so I was completely traumatized by the events and life of having an indoor cat and I thought, no way, NEVER AGAIN!

Well, I had no idea that my little Hawaiian Souvenir, Sarabella, would be an aspiring cat mom and have a crazy connection to kitties. With dread every year as she begged for a cat I cringed from my last experience and finally I had an idea that was sure to satisfy her! I'll just get bunnies, it's be fine! They are cute, soft, furry, she can hold them and don't judge me, but best of all they have about an 8 year life span! I could do that! We will get cute bunnies, the Holland Lops with the big ears, oh and we have to have two of them so the one doesn't get lonely while we were at work and school. I always think I have these amazing ideas and then...... OK so they warned me that the two male bunnies might fight when they hit puberty, but maybe not if they grow up together. So I made them a cute little bunny hutch with their names on it, Travis and Carrots. I over estimated them, they were scrapping by the time they were 4 months old and Travis usually had the blood on him. So Carrots had to go, we gave him to a friend that had a farm in Lynden where we could have his own private bunny haven. So life was good with Travis the bunny until that fall, but then we noticed mice and rats coming around our yard, turns out they like bunny food too! Disgusting.

Travis & Carrots

Ok so now what? I couldn't get rid of the bunny my daughter would be devastated, so I thought I will get a barn/shed cat like we had as kids. I saw SPOT had some barn cats that were rescued so I said perfect and I told my daughter ok, but under no circumstance is it coming inside, it is strictly a mouser and he stays outside, I even made him a kitty condo outside. We named him fittingly, Thomas O'Malley, he was cat #1 after declaring no cats ever again. Thomas O'Malley was completely fine with this arrangement for about 2 years and then one day he went missing and my daughter, who was around 9 years old at the time, was so upset. We searched high and low for him for 4-5 days my oldest daughter says why don't you go check with the neighbor, there is always cats at their house and they seem to hoard them in their house. I thought that would be weird he's been with us two years they have to surely know he is our cat and why would anyone want to let a strange cat in their house and for that many days? Sure enough, I went and knocked on the door to this little 1 bedroom mother in law that was rented out next door and I asked if they had seen my cat and described him and they further opened their door to reveal Thomas O'Malley just hanging out in their house and they said, "oh you mean peaches?" Uh no! First of all he is a mousing alley cat, I feel like it's an insult to call him peaches. Secondly what insane person hoards their neighbors cat in their house and doesn't say anything? And they tell me they clipped his nails, again no! He is a mouser, he wants those babies intact! Oh boy after that I said you are not to bring him in your house again, I have a young child who has been worried sick about him.. So then then we had an indoor alley cat, much to my disagreement, I couldn't help but empathize what my little cat mom must feel without her baby. So from then on that mangy alley cat slept on her pillow with her every night. Like literally crawled in a ball around the top of her head and slept with her. He was sweet but man was he mangy, you could not brush or bathe the alley cat out of him, but he was a sweet guy. Thomas got so much of her attention we gave Travis to a friend that had a bunny "haven" where Travis could live out the rest of his days someone to dote over him daily. Thanks Robbie for loving our Travis!

Thomas O'Malley in his usual sleeping spot:

And apparently he slept on my head too when I would fall asleep in my depression on the couch, It was a struggle that year, that's the thing about animals they sense things, they love their people:

Well, I also chose to date someone who convinced me to rescue his family cat and when we broke up he left his cat with me because the cat wouldn't adjust well to a move. So there is cat #2 old Moses, the Prince of Fowler St. When he first came to my house he kept peeing on the baseboard in the bathroom, after replacing it like 3 times I listed him on Pet Finder for free and he stopped magically. He knew, little butthead. My daughter grew to love him of course and now he is our old man Moses and he is getting up there in age and in his geriatric years. He spends his days lounging pretty much all day, every day and when he gets really p.o.'d he lets you know by going poop on my bathroom throw carpet, he might be getting closer and closer to kitty heaven especially with that attitude, good thing they are throw carpets and I can throw them in the wash.

How Mo spends his days:

After living with us for about 3 years Thomas O'Malley became ill and stopped regenerating blood cells and was loosing weight and ended up in the pet emergency, he had a great last run of his life with us and my daughter was devastated when we had to put him down, he was estimated to be around 12-14 years old. The wonderful people at Affordable Pet Care in Stanwood, WA gave him a loving farewell.

https://www.apcstanwood.com/

So ok, now after that long explanation.... I love stories, memories and I love to hear others' too! Luckily a couple of months before Thomas O'Malley had passed and I had been going through a rough patch myself physically and emotionally I had felt guilty as we often do as mothers and wanted to cheer my daughter up and to be honest I didn't even barely have the energy to go Christmas shopping. (ok so that's not the lucky part) A friend of ours had baby kittens, so we picked the little fluffy one and gave it to Sarabella for Christmas. Cat #3! I was really grateful she was able to have the new kitten before Thomas' passing so it softened the blow. She was over the top excited. At first she named it Angel, but then within 2 days she says no, her name is ILY (I love you), yep like the song by Surf Mesa, if you're not familiar here it is:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=89degLrNZM8

Christmas day with ILY!

Sarabella LOVES this cat and she was so tiny but fluffy and completely black, we would always loose her! She would fall asleep in the closet or hide in the bushes, I don't know how many times the neighbors helped us search for her! We kept putting collars on her, but they were the breakaway collars and would come off. Once she was missing for two days and we put posters up and thankfully someone brought her back. After that I don't think Sarabella let her out of the house unless she was in her kitty backpack until after she was a year old. Oh yeah, we have the kitty backpack, we are one of those kind of cat people now, we have a kitty leash too, but she hates it. But she kind of likes the backpack. She's too big for it now, but when she was smaller we would take her in it to Whidbey Factory on Division in Mount Vernon and they would give her little bits of cream to drink while we ate our lunch, it was so cute! They loved her, they even gave us a free cookie because she was so cute! haha Love this cute place and they are pet friendly:

https://g.co/kgs/dhG557d

When ILY was of age, we got her fixed at NOAH, it's hard to get a spot for a spay at this place, but definitely worth it. We love The NOAH Center, not only for affordable spay and neuters, but also that they are a no kill shelter and they have a kitty room! Who needs a cat cafe, although those are nice, but we can go play with the little kitties for free at NOAH! Be prepared though because the kids with you will BEG to take them home and possibly shed some alligator tears if you say no. It's happened once or twice in our family! haha And they are so nice there, have you ever been to one of their booths at an event, it's definitely a worthwhile stop!

https://www.thenoahcenter.org/

ILY now spends her day lounging on the couch and beds or in a closet, dressing up for family parties (or allowing her cat mom to dress her up, she doesn't seem to mind as long as it's not something warm, the light fluffy dresses seem to be her favorite), creeping on the neighbors or in the bushes, sprawling out on the warm sidewalk in hopes that someone walking by or one of the neighbors will stop and pet her and tell her how cute she is. If she's being sassy you will find her jumping the fence, pouncing on poor old Moses, jumping to the top of the pantry shelf and prowling on the fence or roof looking for her next victim (unfortunately she loves to hunt birds and baby bunnies for sport, but hey I notice we don't have mice/rats so there's a plus side to that sad little fact). Seriously, we have had multiple birds brought in the house and let loose or a bunny wrestled under my bed. I'm not sure she could match the large raccoons in the area though, so I hope she stays spry. Our cats are moody just like the rest of us girls in our house and as much as they are annoying at times, they are sweet, soft, cool and collected, until they're not. haha Check back with our blog or follow us on social media to keep tabs on what ILY has been up to!