Mourning Murphy's Law

Murphy's Law or some other superstition based

thingy says bad things come in three's.

We just hit 5 - maybe we're going for double or nothing.

Hopefully this will count as 2.

The one and only time he ever let me hold him on his back like a baby - wrapped in a towel - withered away to a mere 16 and 1/2 pounds - I hand him to Matt and he places him in a shallow grave. Our sweet, sweet Sylvester. Living up to the fame of his breed in every way - he was truly a gentle giant. He was ticklish. He purred SO SO VERY LOUD! He never climbed onto any furniture that he wasn't invited on. He loved to grab onto the step just above the landing with his claws - and use the force to throw himself down. Who will shred that step now?

My favorite memory of Sylvie is so sweet. We were working with the cat colony then and had to bring in a litter of motherless kittens, Sylvester was about 1 year old. He had become HUGE overnight and we were not sure if we could trust him around kittens. Man were we wrong. While the other cats could have cared less about a group of kittens - Sylvester mothered them in an amazing show of gentleness and nurture. He would let them snuggle into his belly (yes, his ticklish belly) and paw at him as they would have if they had been nursing on their mother. He would wash their bottoms just as a mother cat would have. He would call them to him and snuggle with them at sleep.

I wish that I could give him the treats I bought for him tonight.

I am grateful that over the last couple of weeks he has stayed closer to us during the day and come up to sleep at the foot of our bed a few times at night.

Sylvie lived a good 9 years longer than he would have in the wild and he always seemed blissfully happy and carefree.

5 cats gone. 1 a year for the last 3 years. The oldest hold on tight.

We knew - when in a moment of total insanity - we committed to caring for these cats, that there would come a day, many days, that we would see them go.

It never gets any easier - especially for the girls.

Goodbye Sylvester

Addendum

Things I want to remember

• Sylvester was polydactyl - 6 toes instead of 5 on each foot
• He could pick things up with his paws to eat them
• He couldn't see water, so he would knock over his dish to make sure it was really water, but then it would be empty.
• Super fun to leave a bag of cat food/ treats where he could reach it. He would rip into it - then lay down stretched out on the floor and pull pieces out with his paw and eat them. Lazy but resourceful!!!
• Sometime in the last month - when he was snuggling beside me on the sofa, he rolled to his side and then his back and let me rub his tummy. The ultimate show of submission. To me that says something like: "hey I'm happy, I like you, I need your comfort, or I trust you" any of which make it all worth it