Our old gray cat finally passed away last night after suffering a stroke. Kinda saw it coming, as she’d been acting abnormally recently – a bit more clingy, not eating as much, not wanting to go outside, crouching with her head held over her water bowl. Then yesterday her tail and hind legs wouldn’t work and she slowly drifted off.
Here she is in 2009, one of the few “Cat Posts” we’ve shown here:
Bunkessa and Bunkarina had adopted Smokey as a stray. She needed very little training, suggesting that she’d been abandoned by a previous owner. She loved the missus and the kids, but couldn’t stand me, at least for the first few years we had her.
Smokey knew to go outdoors to do her business and would paw the frame of the screen door to tell us. She figured out how to “knock” at the front screen door by pulling on it and letting it bang shut when she wanted to come back in. She’d bring us “presents” occasionally, including a live terrified mouse that she dropped on the living room floor.
RIP Smokey 1995(?) – 2012
Tacky Raccoons 
That was beautiful. I knew you would miss her.
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Bunkarina– We’re still looking around to make sure we don’t step on her.
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My sympathies. I’ve lost pets before, and it can be tough. I’m currently waiting for Butch (my almost-17-year-old cat) to get around to kicking the bucket. She’s missing half her teeth, on thyroid medication, and nowhere near as active or agile as she used to be.
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Wheels– Thanks.
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They are family, pure and simple. Not pets, but family. Sorry for the loss of a little one. Amazing how many holes in your life they fill up, just by being themselves and nothing else.
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LK– You’re right. I was pretty tired last night and was running on autopilot. Just before I went to bed I opened the screen door to let her in.
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