Farewell to My Cat Smokey

Smokey came to live with us in 1995. My son was working in the garage about September and found a little gray kitten probably two or three months old. He was flea laden and looking a little like he needed a vet so we took him and the vet gave me shampoo to bathe him. He was not happy to be getting a shampoo. But the dead fleas! Seemed like hundreds. Then he got a second bath a week or so later. He never much liked water after that so I was always surprised when he decided to take a nap in the tub some years later. The following spring my son found the kitten's poor dead mother hidden in the garage.

Recently we took the 'kids' to the vet for their annual checkup. Smokey was down from 18 pounds to 12 pounds. Examination and blood work showed nothing wrong. He continued to lose weight and when it looked like 10 pounds it seemed another vet visit was in order. He wanted to eat but couldn't. He wouldn't eat dry food and then he wouldn't eat canned either. Then he licked at the liquid. He didn't make it to the appointment.

For fourteen years I loved that cat. We went to Arizona for two weeks one time and when we got home he greeted us at the door. He obviously had not appreciated us being gone and leaving some substitute cat sitter in our place. From then on he followed me wherever I went. Upstairs, there he was. To the basement, Smokey was there. Working in the kitchen, I'd better look before I turned around because he was likely to be sitting behind my feet.

He like sleeping beside me. He went through phases. For a while he draped himself across my feet. Sometimes curled up by my tummy. His favorite place was behind my knees. And that's where he wanted to be recently even though getting up the stairs and onto the bed became a challenge.

He loved playing with the catnip filled squirrel I brought home for him. Batted it around. Carried in his mouth. Rolled on the floor with it. Early on he like batting the ball in the round thingy. Although the other two kids loved chasing laser lights, Smokey was more interested in stalking them while they played. Only on very rare occasions would he pretend to bat at the little red light but certainly never chased it.

I've known that one of these days he'd be gone when I came home and today he was gone. I cried. He'll be buried in the same garden spot where Charlie has been since Christmas Eve 2005. An era ended today. I sure hope cats will be with us in heaven because I sure want Smokey to be there to greet me when I walk through that door.