This past fall has been challenging, and I've had a lot going on in just a couple of months. We remodeled our retro kitchen, went on a weeklong road trip across New York State to Sleepy Hollow, NY, and shortly after was followed by the passing of our cat Vicktor Frankenstein on Oct 21, 2022. Needless to say, Halloween time was hard with black cats everywhere. We knew it was coming, we just didn't know when would be the right time. We decided when he started having more bad days than good, it was time to make the hard decision.
Vicktor was very much Andrew's (the hubs) cat, and I was little Ginger's human, and she was my familiar. He was a chonky black Bombay cat with a moody personality, but when he loved, he loved strong. His purrs were loud like a motor, and he would follow you around for food. ANY kind of food. He was about 3 years old when we adopted him with Ginger, and in his file it said he was "abandoned". I always joked it's probably because he ate them out of house and home! He liked his food, especially olives.
He slowed down in his old age, after Ginger passed you could tell he knew something was missing but wasn't sure what. (After all, they were together for about 17 years! During this time he became my buddy because he knew I was sad.) He didn't play as much and napped even more if that's possible. You knew his arthritis was acting up when he was having trouble going up and down the stairs. At one point before our road trip, he didn't come out of the basement and crawled into a corner. I went to work and thought ok, this is going to be the day he decides to leave us, but he bounced back like nothing was wrong. This went on for weeks. He'd have really great days playing and chasing me up the stairs, then other days he didn't move all day and sat in his box.
I really think the kitchen remodel stimulated his curiosity. He stayed upstairs when they were working on it, but when he came down, would explore and find new places to nap. What we didn't realize until later was that he started peeing in one corner of the house. He never did that before. After we found that out, his days started getting worse.
Because of his mood swings, and the poo nuggies he would leave around the house, I would call him "poop" kitty, but he was our poop kitty, and he's very missed. He liked sitting with his butt in my face when I would lay down. He worshiped the sun and would lay in the smallest sunbeam. He liked heat and would sit in front of heaters hogging the warm air. He liked to hide in plain sight on black carpets too. I can't tell you how many times I've tripped over him. His fur was shiny and soft as velvet. He was smooth, and sometimes I'd refer to him as my "boyfriend" especially when he would hold my hand watching movies.
I feel like with everything going on in my life I haven't properly grieved for Vicktor. I'm still devastated from Ginger being gone. So please don't ask me when we are getting new cats. Yes, I miss having cats in my life, but I'm not ready for new ones yet. Everyone grieves differently. It's been almost two years since Ginger's been gone, and I think about her everyday. I still walk around the house talking to her likes she's still there, and I'd like to think both kitties are watching over me.
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