May 29, 2004 you came home with us from the animal shelter. We estimate that you were born on October 1, 2003. You had been at the animal shelter since you were a baby kitten and we brought you home when you were 7-8 months old. Why you spent your kitten hood in the shelter, we never will understand. You were so sweet, so beautiful, and so playful; why were you there for so long? We think it’s because you were meant to be with us. The day we went in to choose a kitty, I sat down, you walked right over and crawled into my lap, gave kiss after kiss, and did not move until I stood up to leave. There was never any doubt that we were going to bring you home with us; that you were meant to live with us, along with the other two we adopted that day and the one that we adopted later.
You were only nine years old when you died and we would have had you for nine years this May if you were still alive. In all those years, you were so sweet, kind, gentle, and loving. We never once heard you hiss or growl at anyone or anything. You loved your brother and two sisters, your Mommy and Daddy, and everyone else you ever met. You always tucked up tight with your brother or one of your sisters. You loved them all so much and they loved you too. You were especially close to your brother, you would be wrapped around each other all the time, sleeping or cuddling. The first month and a half we had you, we worried that you were being left out of playtime with your brother and sister and so we adopted another sister for you. You were so happy with your new sister; you loved her from the first moment you met her. The other two kitties hissed and growled at her for a few hours, but not you. Instead, when your brother hissed at her for the last time, you stood in front of her in between the two of them and stared at your brother. You were her protector and you two played together happily for years. You played with the other kitties too, but your little sister never ran out of energy for playing. You were definitely the “tough guy” of the bunch; you were so much bigger, longer, and stronger than the other kitties; for wrestling matches all you had to do was lightly bat a paw and they would fall over. Your fellow kitties were the best to play with. How you loved to play. You loved the noisy balls; you would bat them all over the house like crazy, knock them down the stairs into the basement, smack them all over the basement, then put them in your mouth, carry them back up the stairs, and knock them down the stairs into the basement again. You loved the noise from those little balls so much and would amuse yourself doing that for long periods of time, until eventually the balls would get broken or under furniture somewhere. We lost track of how many noisy balls we bought you. You would play with anything you could find, not just your siblings or the noisy balls. You loved the toys we would swing around, you loved the laser pointer and would chase it through the house, you loved the little mice, and you really loved catnip, especially on the scratching post. You would lick the catnip, roll around in it, and smack at your siblings who were rolling around it too. It was so much fun. You loved to attack Mommy’s hands when you were lying on the kitty perch and she would wiggle her fingers underneath it and scratch at the fabric. You used to chase those interactive toys like crazy, jumping high up in the air each time to catch them, until you realized you were so long you could just stand up and catch the toy instead of having to jump. You played so much, right up until the night before you died. That last time you played you were pouncing on Mommy’s hands and feet under the bed covers every time they wiggled. You always loved to play like that. You nightly inspected the bed sheets, each individual layer, every time Daddy would spread them out. You had to make sure all was well for your Mommy and Daddy. You loved to explore closets. Any time there was a closet door open, you had to go in and check everything out. You loved to bite at Mommy’s purse, chewing on the straps every time it was sitting on the fireplace. How you loved being on top of the fireplace. You loved standing up there and walking around while Mommy and Daddy gave you lots of love and attention. It was one of your favorite things. Sometimes you would sleep in a box filled with toys; it never looked comfortable, but you loved being in it and were often in there. Sometimes you would sleep in the kitty igloo. One of your favorite places to sleep was laying on Mommy or Daddy or wrapped around Daddy’s head. Sometimes it would be different rooms of the house on a blanket, but always with another kitty. Most of the time you would sleep in the black chair, whether the chair was cleaned up or piled high with Daddy’s clothes, tucked up tight with your brother.
You always watched out the windows, watching the birds, dogs, neighborhood cat, squirrels, rabbits, neighbors, passersby, kids, leaves, and anything else out there. You loved the sunlight so much. You would lie in the sun and roll around, just loving the warmth so much. You used to go outside with Mommy and Daddy on your harness. You used to love that so much. You would explore without any fear and you did that for many years. You loved to go behind the garage and wanted to be outside for hours. You would hunker down if you saw an outside animal like you were going to pounce on it, but then a leaf would blow by and would distract you and you would forget all about the animal. Any time there was a bug in the house you would find it. If it flew you would catch it and knock it down, but you never hurt it. You would always let it go to catch it again. If it crawled you would just stick your nose right by it and follow it wherever it went. You never covered up after you used the litter box, always just wiping your paws on the surrounding tiles or walls, because you didn’t want to get your feet dirty. We used to joke that you weren’t the smartest kitty in the world but that you were definitely one of the sweetest.
You gave the sloppiest kisses ever, rubbing your nose and your whole mouth all over our noses with each kiss. How we miss those kisses. What we wouldn’t give for just one more super sloppy kiss from you. You would often not come to Mommy if she called your name, but if she “cried” like a cat, no matter where you were, you would come running, jump on her, and check to be sure she was okay, giving kisses and showing her how much you loved her. You were always very vocal, often “crying” because you wanted attention and to be picked up and cuddled. Every morning, you would jump on the desk and cry at Mommy, because you wanted love and attention, and Mommy would have to pick you up and cuddle you for just a minute, because there never seemed to be enough time in the morning to give you all the attention you wanted. How much we wish we could have another morning and we would give you all the attention you want, no matter how early we had to get up in the morning.
You loved to be on the bed. You would steal Daddy’s pillow and he always let you have it and would sleep under his pillow. If Daddy’s head did stay on the pillow, you would tuck yourself all around his head and stay there until Daddy stirred. If Daddy was asleep and needed to wake up, Mommy would let you in the bedroom and tell you to wake Daddy up, you would run in, jump on the bed, and insist on Daddy waking up. You would cry at him, paw at him, give him super sloppy kisses, and not give up, no matter how much he would try to bury his head under pillows and blankets. You always could make Daddy wake up. When Mommy would sleep with you in there you would sleep on Daddy’s pillow or you would share Mommy’s pillow with her. You would purr and stick your cold nose into Mommy’s ear and so gently paw at Mommy’s hair, “petting” her. You used to bite the top of Mommy’s head, until you had to have a bunch of your teeth removed and you couldn’t bite the same anymore. You would always paw so gently at our faces, letting us know how much you loved us. You loved to lie on the bed with Mommy rubbing your belly and having her hair all around you. You loved belly rubs so much, from everyone.
You always greeted Daddy at the door. He was your favorite person in the world, though you loved Mommy a whole lot too. You would run meowing all the way through the house when you heard Daddy come home from work and would walk all around him until he picked you up and loved on you. You played favorites, and Daddy was definitely your favorite; though you always loved Mommy lots and lots and were much more balanced those last few months you were with us.
You were diagnosed with Transitional Cell Carcinoma (Bladder Cancer) and started medicine on 8/15/12. It is such a rare kind of a cancer in kitties and we were heartbroken when you were diagnosed. At first it seemed that maybe you would be able to beat the odds and hold on for a long time, but then the mass more than doubled in size in just a month and we understood we were running out of time. We did what we could to make sure you were comfortable and happy, and you were comfortable and happy up until that last day. From the time you were diagnosed, Mommy promised you that if you would tell us when you were ready to be done, we would help you to pass gently.
Just a few days before that last day, your Grandma and Grandpa saw you and how you loved their attention. They both pet you and gave you belly rubs and you just loved that attention so much. You always loved everyone, even the plumber that used to come to fix the sink, you always wanted to “help”, just like you always wanted to “help” the heating and air conditioning repair man. On that last day, you spent a lot of time laying in the window perch in the sunshine, looking out at the neighborhood. You spent time in the bedroom with Mommy getting love and attention, you got love and attention from your Daddy, and you were cuddled up with and getting groomed by your brother. That last day there was a rupture and you were bleeding, though we later learned you bled a lot more than we had realized and we just didn’t find the pools of blood until later. When Daddy went to give you your medicine that night, he picked you up and you started crying. He set you down, some blood came out, you took just one step, and you lay down and didn’t get up. At that point, you told us and we understood. As painful as it was for us, you told us that you were done and we followed through on our promise to you. We called the emergency vet and are eternally grateful that she was willing to come to our house that night. The vet recommended we give you some more pain medication to help you be comfortable until she could get to us. We called at 10pm on Monday, January 21, 2013 and while we waited for the vet to call back, all three of your siblings walked up to you and gave you a kiss. We think they understood and were saying their goodbyes. The vet called back at 10:15pm and was on her way. We had you lay on Daddy’s chest and we both loved on you while we waited for the vet to come, which she did at about 11pm. You just lay there peacefully; you didn’t seem to be in any pain, but you were clearly telling us that you were done. That is the only time you ever lay on someone getting love and attention and didn’t purr, or give kisses, or paw gently at a face. It was very clear that you were ready to go. The vet arrived at about 11pm and told us what we already knew, that it was time. So we put you on the floor on a blanket and we both pet you and talked to you, telling you over and over how much we love you and what a good kitty you are and how everything was going to be okay. Mommy wanted to make sure that the last thing you knew was our voices and hands petting and comforting you as you passed gently. You might not realize this, sweet Garfield, but your little sister, the one you protected the day you met her, she stood between the couch and the loveseat and quietly watched the whole thing, watching you gently leave this Earth.
We are so very thankful that you felt good up until that last day. You were one of the sweetest, most loving, gentle, kind, and wonderful souls we have ever been blessed enough to know. We can’t begin to say how much we love you and how deeply we miss you.
Our sweet, precious Garfield…we love you so very much. We miss you and will until we meet again. We will love you forever and ever. We know that you are in Heaven right now and that we will see you again when it is our time to leave this Earth. Until then, RIP sweet Garfield, and remember that Mommy and Daddy will always love you.
We Love You,
| Garfield |
| 21, Jan 2013 |
| Amy & Sean Bullington |