Like I said before they were the two original cats in the house when Gypsy Gal came home. Thankfully there was no problem with the introductions and Gypsy and Cats got along fine. Sandi pulled kitten FURFACE out from under a trailer many years ago and they have been together everyday since then. He was with her through many trials and tribulations, and his affection for her was endless. I used to joke how FURFACE was always the #1 man in the house. I think this was evident on a trip we took to her Dad's mountain house. We took FURFACE with us for the weekend and he was tucked away in his little cat kennel. We had only gone a few miles when, of course, FURFACE gets car sick. Sandi had some towels so, a quick clean up and off we go again. A few more miles and there he goes again, except from BOTH ends. Not a pleasant sight. Sandi quickly ran out of towels and without hesitation demanded the shirt off my back to clean poor FURFACE. So I guess I can say that I gave the shirt off my back for the cat right? By the time we got to the mountains I was in my boxers.
Cleo was a rescue cat. We walked into a pet shop on a Saturday morning and they had an adoption thing going on. Sandi has to say hi to every kitten/cat in the place. We weren't looking to adopt at that time either. This is back when Sandi felt one cat was enough. (THOSE WERE THE DAYS!) I was walking by and this tiny black and white kitten reaches out a grabs my arm. This was Cleo, although at the time the rescue group called her Smudge because of the back spot on her nose. Anyway, Cleo had me from that point on. She was more my cat than Sandi's. If I was sitting down, Cleo was usually on my lap. She followed FURFACE around and they were always side by side.
After many great years we finally lost FURFACE one sad day. He had a great life. I believe better than the majority of the cats in this world. Thanks to Sandi that is. Not only did Sandi and I take it hard but Cleo was also in a state of depression. Jon Katz is an author I read all the time. He has written many terrific novels about dogs, and his life on Bedlam Farm in upstate New York. He also has a great blog at www.bedlamfarm.com. Check it out. He lost his dog Rose recently and wrote about how he did not observe any of the other dogs grieve for the loss. He says we try to invoke human emotions into our animals. This is a very controversial topic with animal lovers. I used to agree with him until we had these turn of events. When we lost FURFACE, Cleo went into a state of depression. That is the only way I can explain it. She went up and hid under the bed. Not coming out. Not for food or water. I would take food up to her and lie on the floor and she would come out for one or two bits of food and then back under the bed. This went on for weeks. I finally took her to the Vet and she thought Cleo might have cancer or perhaps something else that we could only determine after more testing. The opinion was that she was in poor shape and we had to put her down, In one short summer we lost both FURFACE and Cleo. So sad. I believe to this day that whatever it was that brought Cleo down, probably cancer, was accelerated by her extreme depression over FURFACE.
Loosing these two guys have made me appreciate Gypsy, and the time we will have together, more than ever.
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