Grey the Cat
Grey was put to sleep on a Thursday in March 2007, it was the 8th. This was due to his kidneys giving out on him, though we don’t really know why they went out on him. Two people who loved him very much were with him while he went to sleep and he never cried out or showed fright, he just watched us as we told him it would be okay. He had just turned six.
He was purchased from the SPCA on a sunny day in March 2001 along with his brother, Blue. He was maybe six weeks old when he was adopted. Upon taking him and his brother home we locked them in the bathroom so they could get acclimated to their new world. They both hid behind the toilet, but Grey took the longest in coming out. His name at that point in his life was Shyboy and that moniker pretty much summed up his personality. He was always the shy one, never coming out when strangers were afoot. He was the bigger of the two and slightly fuzzier, in a lot of ways he was opposite to his sibling. He loved catnip and adored treats. He would only play if something was dragged across the ground, never if it was swung. He would tolerate being held for a short period of time, but only if you put him the proper position so that his forelegs could rest over your shoulder.
His journey in life took him to no less than five different living places, with a couple of trips to Austin and Waco. You could say he was pretty well traveled for a cat. I not sure he ever enjoyed these forays into the larger world. His final stopping place is a flowerbed in Central Texas, in the country not far from Waco. He’s in fine company there, you could say it is very hallowed ground as far as loved family pets go.
I’m really surprised at how hard his death has been. I raised him from a kitten and for about a year or so he and his brother were my only companionship. The circumstances of his passing also add to the grief, I can’t help but feel that there was something I failed to do and that if I had been a better parent this wouldn’t have happened. And of course now I worry about the brother he left behind, but so far Blue seems to be pretty much the same as he always has been. He has been crying more lately, but that seems to be slowing down as he adjusts, or whatever, it’s difficult to tell what a cat is feeling.