I would never have believed
that I'd have a cat for a best friend, but I do and I'm not ashamed.
Ten years ago I would have argued until out of breath that cats were
a worthless animal, but I have since rethought my position on them.
The biggest influence toward my more positive opinion is a cat named Boozie, he's
my daughters pet but he lives with me. I knew fairly
quickly after she brought the cat home that I wanted him, he sat at
the end of my bed intently watching the movie 'True Grit' from start
to finish and that sealed it. I started offering money for him
starting at $100, over the course of time it had gotten as high as
$1200, with each amount repeatedly declined in turn.
Kellee surprised me when she told me that when she moved out she
thought it would be best that Boozie stay with me, forever, no money
needed. I asked "It's because he loves me, right?" to which she
replied "No, it's because he is in love with you". At first the way
she said that kind of bothered me, but I have since come to realize
it is true, I see it every time he looks at me. I love and need that
little fat furry guy too though, he calms me down and makes me feel
happy, sitting with him is such good therapy and he is truly a great
friend. He gets me, and he doesn't freak out when I move quickly or make
loud noises around him, likely because he knows that I would never
hurt him.
He has since been nicknamed Uki, he follows me everywhere and stares
at me. He also likes to sit on my lap and lick my beard from one
side of my face to the other, sometimes he stands on my lap and
looks me square in the face before leaning in to lick my nose or
cocking his head to the side to bite it, he also likes biting at my
earlobes. He will stand up on his hind legs to give hugs and he
loves to be hugged tight and held close. Our snuggling routine goes:
"Oh buddy, I love you so much that I will squeeze you so hard your
guts will shit right out of your butthole, like this!", then
loud fart noises, fake squeezes and him loving it.
He sits outside my workshop with his pink nose poking under the door
and quietly meows, I ask him "Uki, is that you?" before opening it.
He comes in, sits and stares at his mouse on a stick above the door
until I tell him "I know, I put it up there" or take it down to
play. He's a super sniffy guy who loves to smell everything, but his
three favorite things to smell are catnip, cardboard boxes and other
cats butts. He likes to watch birds and animals outside the back
window, he also likes watching animals on TV, especially horse
racing. He loves jumping up onto my shoulder to sit like a parrot
and bite at my ears, sadly Uki not being super agile has scratched
me silly by missing the jump, so that became taboo fairly quickly.
I like to sing to him, I am not ashamed of it either and he is not
critical of my voice. There are a few different songs that I came up
with but my favorite is our best friend song. "We're the two best
friends that could ever ever be, the two best friends that could
ever ever be, Uki and me are the bestest of friends what could ev-er
freak-ing be... bestest of friends that could ever freaking be". I
honestly believe he understands what it means, he purrs when I hold
him and sing it, his head cocked sideways pressed to the side of my
neck and his little furry cat hands massaging my shoulder. Cats like
to be sang to and I would wonder who will sing to my buddy after I
am gone...
Julie said "You need to look at Uki's leg", I freaked out and made
an emergency vet appointment after work. I got home and looked at
his huge hind leg and told myself it had to be a bee sting or spider
bite, maybe he fell off something and it was just swollen, I hold
him every day and hadn't ever noticed it, but deep down I was
scared. I held him close and told him that we would see the vet and
that everything would be OK, but it wasn't. The vet told me his lump
was a tumor and that it was very aggressive, I asked what could be
done and she said they could cut off his hind leg, but no guarantee
as the cancer had likely already spread to other parts of him. I
broke down right there and cried like an idiot.
Uki having cancer has proven to be one of the most difficult things
that I have ever had to deal with, each day he gets a little bit
worse but he still sits with me and tries to cheer me up because he
knows I need it. He is dying right in front of me and there isn't
anything I can do to save him, I have never felt so sad in all my
life. This morning I woke up to blood on the floor, his lump broke
open during the night and he is not doing very good. His normally
bright pink nose is grey, he has another emergency vet appointment
for this afternoon and I am dying inside because I know what comes
next.
I left work early so I could have time to say goodbye to my best
friend, I went out and picked what little catnip I could find for
him and held him close to me. Julie and Kellee came home and took
him to the vet, I'm glad they are both strong because there is no
way I could have done it. I don't know what I'm going to do without
my buddy, I already miss him terribly, I would give everything I
own to have him back. I told Uki to listen for me, just in case
there is anything after this reality because when it comes my time I
plan to go into whatever's next calling out his name and finding
him.
Be at peace furry man.
04/13/2015
