Part of me is relieved today. The curse of threes is complete.

My kitty was put to sleep last night as my mom held him. He lived to be almost a full 18 years old ... and from an alley cat beginning too, literally.

My mom found him in the alley behind her office one day. The staff had gone to treat a medical emergency in the alley and she noticed him afterward. The doctor that lived across the alley said he had been hanging around lately. She took him and put him on the doctor's porch out of harms way. The little kitten was still sitting right where she left him when she went to go home.

I still remember naming him when I was only a girl. My mom brought home the tiny tabby in a cardboard box. I had just seen The Land Before Time and wanted to name him after the lost little dinosaur with no family, Little Foot. The name did always feel right for him. He was an adventurer, a survivor, curious, and full of love. He was never a stereotypical snob cat. He didn't like to be held, but he would rub on you and nuzzle with you for hours.

Always the cat that wanted to try to run outside, to find something new and interesting, he got himself and the others in a bit of trouble from time to time. They never had his spirit though - too scared to really venture out and too timid to know what to do in their new surroundings when they did.

Before the divorce, he had our German Shepard to count on when he managed to get out without us noticing. They'd be curled up sleeping together in the morning, her keeping him warm in the cold desert night. Later, he had to fend for himself when he got out. Gone missing for an entire week, he managed to do just that. No claws, in coyote country, vulnerable to birds of prey, and still he managed to come back in one piece without a scratch.

The doctors told us he should have been dead two years ago, that he would never make it once he left the hospital, but he went on living his laid back, sweet ways and proved them wrong. He had his ups and downs since then, but he had a good run of it.

I will never forget the way he would squeek to meow or the way he would reach his paw out as far as he could and tap your leg to remind you that he was there. Now I will have a plaster mold of his paw print to always remind me instead.

Posted by: Princess Cat at 03:55 PM | Comments (17) | Add Comment
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