yesterday erin and i said goodby to bruiser.
bruiser was the best damn cat on the planet.
when he was born he was the 'runt' of his litter
and the only one playing with him was his sister,
spike. they chose erin and i from all of the other
little kittens in the play pin. bruiser especially;
he climbed up the webbing on the side of the
playpin to me when i first began petting him.
both spike and bruiser were born on April 27, 2003.
they both grew incredibly fast and strong. they both
have been described by friends as 'two of the biggest,
healthiest cats i've ever seen!' (almost always with an
exlaimation point)
they did just about everything together and were just about cuter and sweeter thana normal person can stand.
when erin and i were home, they were always with us
and always wanted attention and love (and tuna-
treats!). i could not sit @ my computer without bruise
almost instantly taking over; he always wanted to help
like a good little kitty. he slept on us, he sat with us @
dinner, movie-time, or reading. one of his neatest 'tricks'
was to go from sitting on the floor to my shoulder in one
swift and sleek stroke. then he would sit on my right
shoulder and 'perch' over my left arm making biscuits.
erin and i moved out of our house in elkins and into our
apartment in fayetteville last summer. in august of 2006
we took both spike and bruiser for booster shots. in october
we noticed that bruiser had lost some wieght and showed
some signs of anemia. the only real diagnosis we got was
that he had contracted Feline Infectious Anemia (after
months of vet appointments and medication treatments).
also, bruiser lost most of his eyesight due to fluid pressure
in his eyes which caused detached retinas in both.
from October 2006 to April 2007 we attempted to nurse him
back to health through myriad medications, countless diet
alterations and, in a last-ditch effort, a regimin of homeopathic
remedies.
in that time he went from 14 to 6.25 pounds.
his face and eyes were riddled with strange
pustule-like sores that didn't heal from the time
they appeared in december to the time of his
untimely death.
despite his decline in health, he continued to love
and spend time with us as if he were healthy.
whenever we would let him outside he would
chase leaves, scatch his back by rolling back and
forth, and lie in the sun for a catnap.
my heart and my head are o'er-flowing yet i feel
so empty and helpless inside. holding him and seeing
his tail stop and his chest finally come to rest on the
near-skeleton which he had become will haunt
me. erin saw the light go from his eyes when he was
finally still; i could not have seen that and i fear erin
will be haunted by that as well.
we are having his little body cremated and will abide his
ashes so that we will always have him near despite
the heart-breaking way he had to spend his last days.
i will cherish all of my memories of the few years which
we had our sweet kitty kitty. he was the best kitty friend
that i've ever had and i will miss him terribly.
farewell, my sweetest boo boo.
bruiser
April 27, 2003 - April 18, 2007