RIP Ninja (warning - cat story)

[TBS]

This story begins October 2006. I get a call from MsTBS while I'm in some airport...

"Remember you said we could get a cat after the dog died?"

"I remember saying we could get a short-hair, housebroken, neutered, no special-needs cat from a shelter, PROVIDED you got someone to take care of him whenever we were both out of town."

"OK, good. We got one."

"OK...Where did you get this cat?"

"He's been hanging around the front door for four days now. He doesn't have front claws or a collar and he looks really bad. He doesn't have a chip either."

"Wait, how do you know this cat isn't chipped?"

"I took him to the vet. He's been neutered and had a hernia fixed."

"How do you know this isn't some other person's best friend, and would be devastated to lose this cat?"

"I walked around the neighborhood and nobody's put up signs. I checked Craigslist and no cat matches his description. The vet sez he's been outside for a while given his scrawniness and appetite. He thinks the tooth he extracted broke maybe two months ago. Vet thinks he's about six."

"Wait, you had a tooth extracted? How much is this cat going to cost."

"Not much. He's really sweet. You'll like him"

"Great. I can't wait. See you tomorrow"

I check the bank account the next day and there's a $1200 charge for a vet. Fuck.......

I get home and there's food bowls with wet and dry food, an electric bubbler for water, an electric cat litter box house requiring special litter with automatic raking and usage meter, a jungle gym of sorts and all manner of cat toys. Fucking great - looks like I'm not getting new skis this year....

Only thing missing is a cat. Food vanishes, counter increases on the litter box mansion, but no critter. "He's black and white. I think he's just shy". I look everywhere, wondering if this is some joke or this $1500 project is dead in some closet or cabinet.

About a week later I wake up at about 2AM because it feels like a bug is on my face. I open my eyes to a cat face about one inch from mine. "meow". He crawled into my armpit and went to sleep.

It took the next two weeks to rid ourselves of fleas. He's slept in my armpit every night I've been home since then. He snores.

We named him Ninja because he would sneak up on you without a sound. You'd be sitting somewhere for a while, then look next to you..."meow". Never would vocalize without eye contact. Finally got him a bell.

Fast forward to Monday night when he had the cat equivalent of a 90 sec epileptic seizure. No visible problems before then. Took him to the vet yesterday. Gave him fluids, pills and baby food, but he won't eat or drink, lost the ability to jump and just seems miserable - just sits there in an awkward position and cries. Blood test comes back today showing late stage chronic kidney failure.

The vet just left after euthanizing him. And I'm crying like a little girl, even though he was just a cat.

RIP Ninja - some photos of you doing what you did best

[Mazderati]

RIP Ninja. Sounds like he was a pretty awesome cat.

[PaSucks]

Poor kitty. I've got one about 11 years old, hoping to not go through this for a while though. Cats rule!

[snowsprite]

Sorry about Ninja. They're weird/cool creatures, once you have one in your life you understand. He was a lucky kitty to have you guys though.

Sprite

[Tippster]

Bye, Ninja - thanks for being awesome.

[drboudreaux]

Sorry for your loss. Cats are awesome. We have 3 - all rescues.

Give it time. The greatest thing you ever did for the cat was love him and give him a great home. Animals remember and they love right back in their own way.

Vibes.

[Chainsaw_Willie]

Damn, he looks just like my dad's cat "Lucky" who also died of kidney failure just after Christmas. Sorry to hear that.

[snapt]

Vibes mang, losing a pet sucks no matter what it is. I've got a 15 year old furball that's still going strong but I dread knowing that sooner or later age is going to catch up. Good on ya for giving ninja some good years.

[Sublime]

Vibes bro.

Had a cat Otis go out with kidney failure. Didn't know until it was too late. Little guy died right in my arms one night.

He was a good kitty cat that just wanted to lay on your lap 24/7. He used to crawl on my lap during late night CS sessions I would pull the keyboard right over his head and he would purr and snooze away. Used to call him my little heating pad.

Who started cutting onions ?

[SB]

Sorry to hear that. Kidney failure is bad and you did the best thing.

On a brighter note we thought we had lost a cat yesterday to a coyote but he showed up extremely late after we had wrote him off.

[Dave Marshack]

Cats kinda sneak up on you like that. I am recovering from surgery and my mom left her found kitten with me for company... Little kitty has such a crazy personality, I'm already attached after a week. Keep ur head up and realize he win the cat lottery and you did all you could to help

[Bobby Stainless]

That sucks. RIP.

[TBS]

Thanks for the vibes. It was therapeutic to write the OP. I'm a dog person, but Ninja bonded with me for some reason.

Like Sprite sez, cats are cool and weird at the same time. After about a year I could tell what he was "saying" by the inflection in his meow - "feed me", "let me out", "let's cuddle up", "you suck". Sort of reminded me of the different meanings of "Dude" in the Brobrah lexicon. And he loved his catnip - both fresh and dried.

Thanks again. His loss has hit me harder than I ever thought.

[Alaskan Rover]

Yeah....sometimes love for an animal will sneak up on you when you don't expect it, give you a little love-nip and make himself at home in your heart...litterbox and all.

--

[soylent green]

Sorry to hear that. We lost Soylent Green 1 month ago and I haven't really been able to talk about it here. It's amazing how much the little buggers mean to us.

[Benny Profane]

Amazing that cat survived without front claws outside. I had two clawless cats that were extra appreciative of my shelter and food.

[wurst]

The surprise makes it even tougher. I have a 17 or 18-year-old calico rescue that seems like she'll live forever, but when things go south it can happen shockingly fast.

[Jer]

Heaven for Ninja and meowvibes for telebobski and the telebobski family!


++++++++++++++++++++++meow++++++++++++++++++++++++ ++++++++

[scarlet begonias]

Sounds and looks like he was a great kitty. Sorry for your loss, but he was lucky and loved.