It's been a couple years since he has passed but I will never forget him. His name was Timmy. He was adopted from a litter of kittens born in our next door neighbor's garage. He happened to be born on my sister's birthday. I still remember the day we took him home. My little sister and I chasing him around the house. Poor guy, we must have scared him but my sister and I didn't know any better. We were 4 and 7 years old respectively. He was an absolute sweetheart. He loved to cuddle and rub against myself and my sister. He watched both of us grow up and was always there for us. We almost lost him while I was in high school. I remember it was around Christmas time, either late 1994 or 1995. He had been missing for a few days and came back severely dehydrated and near death. He was rushed to the vet, they did some x-rays and saw something was caught in his intestine. The vet said he would need to do some surgery to remove the object, gave him a 10% chance of making it and it would cost $700 to complete the procedure. My mom didn't care too much for the cat. Despite being neutered, he still sprayed almost everything in sight and got cat hair all over the place. But she knew that we would be devestated, especially my sister, if we didn't at least try. It turned out he had got into my dad's fishing gear and swallowed a pork rind on a fish hook that eventually got caught in his digestive system. The odds were not in his favor, but he pulled through and soon was back to his old self again. I joined the Navy shortly after graduating high school in 1996. Every time I came home to visit with my parents, I looked forward to seeing Timmy just as much as I did my family. His health started to go downhill in his final year or so. He had trouble jumping and climbing and also had urinary problems. He used to urinate on just about anything, including my pillow while I was sleeping. Fortunately my head was turned the other way! It was decided that he was suffering too much and that it would be best to let him go. My sister works as a receptionist for a veterinary clinic and had the vet she works for come to our house to complete the procedure rather than bring him to the office where he would be uncomfortable. On June 24th, 2003 he went to sleep for the last time. He is sorely missed. My sister had his remains creamated and placed in a little box she keeps in her room. Rest in peace old man. We have several pictures of him, but this is the only one we have digitally. It's him doing what he does best; sleeping.
