Memories of a Furry Friend
In the spring of 1996 I had been on my own for about a year. The previous spring I had split up with my ex-fiance, rented an apartment of my own, and did a series of stupid things as I tried to get used to being single woman. I had always had pets in my life, in fact, the ex and I had two cats, but when we split he agreed that they were "my" cats. However, it took me a while to find a place of my own and get settled, so Sebastian and Rowena went to stay at my parents house and went from being my cats to being my parents cats. Which was, in the long run, probably the best thing for them given the unsettled year that I had.
But by the following spring I was entering what I was hoping was my last year of graduate school, had gotten comfortable with being alone in my apartment, but I missed having my cats. And my mother made it pretty clear that the two that had come to live at her house had found a permanent home. It just so happened that at about this same time, the good friend who taught me to knit also split up with her fiance. Unlike me, her ex got to keep their two cats while she came and stayed with me while trying to find a new place of her own, and she missed her furry friends. So I decided the two of us would go down to the Anti-Cruelty Society (an animal shelter in downtown Chicago) to see if there were any kittens available for adoption.
As luck would have it, there was a matched pair (littermates) of cream colored tabbies that were supposedly a bit over a year old (I say supposedly, because I think the estimate was wrong... if I had to guess, based on their subsequent growth, these guys were probably 6-8 months old, tops). I definitely wanted a pair because I was in the lab a lot and I didn't want a solo cat to be lonely all the time. I had been hoping to have the small cute fuzzy kitten experience, but these guys were available and the small fuzzy kittens were not. And these tabbies were also incredibly friendly and interactive. They were also both boys, which appealed to me, because I have a fondness for large cats and I thought I had a better chance getting large cats with male cats.
So home with me they came -- after a quick snipping procedure. And they proceeded to enter psycho exploration mode (which also convinced me that they were younger than advertised and reminded me why, after I adopt a kitten, I always swear that I am only going to adopt adult cats forever after) and they followed me around everywhere. It was almost impossible to be separated from these cats. And my apartment felt a bit homier.
It took me a while to name them. Sydney's name came one night while I was sitting in front of my computer using ntalk (think of it as a very bare bones UNIX precursor to current IM clients) to an internet friend in Australia. My computer was in the same room as the dining room and my computer chair sat between my desk and dining room table. Sydney jumped up on the dining room table and put his front paws on the back of my chair and nudged me. Since I was typing online about Sydney, Australia, I took this as a sign that he was telling me what his name should be. (Mercutio's name comes from Romeo and Juliet; Mercutio was Romeo's sidekick and my Mercutio was Sydney's sidekick).
John came into my life about a month after the cats did. Almost from the beginning he was John's best friend. He's "helped" John with almost every computer building project he's ever worked on and always had a priviledged place in John's lap. He had an uncanny knack for going places he wasn't supposed to go -- definitely our "adventure kitty". Before we got Marco (a.k.a. "The Beezle) Syd was the cat who played with the laser pointer and went nuts when given catnip. He also liked to play fetch with what became his favorite toy -- this squishy beach ball toy about the size of a baseball that he could carry in his mouth. Everytime he caught it he would make the strangest yowling noise, but he was clearly pleased with his accomplishment. He was a water snob. Water out of the tap wasn't good enough. He needed water out of our refrigerator's purified water tap (unless he could drink directly from the faucet -- somehow it was better that way). He was much more accepting of Marco than Mercutio was even though Marco harrassed him mercilessly when Marco was a kitten. He had his issues. What animal doesn't? But overall was a good guy, friendly, loving and a little bit mischevious, just like a cat is supposed to be.
On Saturday, after a drive in which John sat in the backseat of the car and held him and his favorite toy all the way to the vet, we said a final good bye to our Sydney. We were with him to his last seconds. After all the love he'd given us in his 10 years with us, we just didn't want him to be alone at the end. And even though we knew it was the right thing to do, it really didn't make it any easier.
Good-bye little friend. You didn't deserve the bad break you got. I know wherever you are now, there's an unlimited supply of kitty treats, the most wonderfully potent catnip, someone always leaves the faucet on for you to drink from and there's never a shortage of warm sunny patches to take naps in. We'll always remember you.
To everyone who shared their encouraging thoughts for Syd with us, we did really appreciate everything we heard and learned. But he was much too far along in the course of disease for us to do much for him. For everyone out there with a cat, I encourage you to keep an eye on any changes in urinary behavior your cat may display. We wished we'd seen some of the warning signs earlier than we did. It wouldn't have changed the ultimate result, but it might have gotten us some more quality time with Sydney.
I've turned off the comments on this one. Sort of my way of giving Syd a little moment of silence and remembrance. I'll be back tomorrow with happier things.
