This entry was posted on Monday, August 4th, 2008 at 10:53 am and is filed under Stories of cat lovers. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
I found my cat, Casey, through a housemate. She had been traveling across the country and found Casey, almost starved, walking around in a Kansas City neighborhood. He had likely been abandoned by a family from the area that had moved. My friend named him K.C. and brought him home.
She was going to find another home for him, but he was so endearing that I decided to adopt him myself. He was a Russian blue, so soft, so sweet…the sweetest, best-natured animal I had ever seen. So…I nursed him back to health. I took him to the vet, bought him the best food, did everything I could for him, because he was so wonderful. He was not only a gently soul, but very, very smart.
There was another, bad-natured cat living in the house who did not like Casey. I’m certain she was territorial and jealous, as cats can be. Although I understood that, her behavior toward Casey was abominable. She terrorized him constantly. He never reliated. He was patient. He waited.
Then one evening, the BAD CAT had her guard down, lying on her back, all legs spread, tummy exposed. Casey seized the moment and POUNCED on her tummy, bit her (minor injury), but scared the hell out of her, which I found very satisfying. Soon after, I moved out of the group house into my own apartment, alone, and took Casey with me. His health completely returned, his coat became shiny, and he had so much love to give. We had many happy, funny years together. He was much more than a pet: he was my friend - and I was his.
We understood each other. Even after I gave birth to my first child, he was classy about it. I prepared him for the new arrival by giving him the baby’s hospital cap so that he could become familiar with his smell. He knew what was going on: God, he was so smart.
After bringing the baby home, he checked him out, sniffed him, and instantly befriended him. He would stand over our baby while the baby slept, as if he was protecting him. I swear, he was so smart, I often expected him to start talking. He just had this look in his eye; like he understood everything. I firmly believe he did. We adopted another cat as well, and of course, Casey accepted him immediately. They were best friends.
After about 10 years Casey became ill with kidney disease. He was about 15 at that point. We gave him dialysis-type treatments about twice per week; it was the least we could do. For a while, it worked well. Then we moved into another home. Our other cat was quite traumatized by this, and died within a week. It was horrible. It turns out he had a heart murmur.
Casey understood that his friend was gone, and he was devastated. He deteriorated quickly after this. We had to put him to sleep. It was so sad, but he was suffering. It was his time to go.
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