In Memoriam - Boo Boo Kitty - Jan 1990 - Sep 2008

I am sad to say that our dear little sweet Boo Boo is now in kitty heaven. He took a header off the sofa last night and was in extreme pain. The only thing we could do was take him to the vet to help his journey to kitty heaven easier. I am so very much dealing with the moral dilemma of whether or not it is right in God's eyes for us to take the role of Life Manager for animals. In this case it was distressing for both Lola and me to see Boo in the condition he was in. Perhaps when I have some quiet time to think I'll come to terms with this decision. I know Boo would have been happy to go and not be in pain, but how does God view this decision??

Boo was a wonderful cat. He was sweet, quiet, gentle, polite and always very proper, quite the little gentleman. He would tap his paw on us when he was hungry and was always so tidy in the litterbox but such a slob at the dinner bowl. He was never a lap cat, but instead would snuggle up parallel to the person of his choice and sleep as close as possible. He and Scooter were the best of friends and would groom and sleep with each other for hours. Even for the past few months Scooter kept watch over Boo at night from a close distance to the sofa. We will all miss him greatly.

Boo Boo came into our home in 2000 at the age of 10 years. He was one of four cats that were loved supremely by my friend Christie, a woman with whom I worked at the office. Christie was a great lover of all animals and was not afraid to stand up for their rights. She had some health issues, and in the summer of 2000 she encountered what was thought to be a gall bladder problem. She checked into the hospital and during the time we all thought she was recovering from gall bladder surgery she was actually battling a disease called hemochromatosis. None of us knew anything about it until she was found dead in her home by my boss, another co-worker and the police in October 2000. It was quite a shock to all of us and after a few days I found out the police had sent 3 of her 4 cats to the local animal shelter. The fourth one, Boo, had not been taken because he was in hiding and wouldn't come out and the police didn't want to spend all day finding him. Instead, one of Christie's neighbor friends said he'd go and feed Boo at her townhome until her lease ran out, and in the meantime try to find him a new home. Christie once told me that if anything ever happened to her, she wanted to be sure her sister got her cats. In this instance, I was under the impression that the sister could not take all the cats, but was going to adopt Boo. Within a week we had new owners lined up for the three cats who were sent to the shelter. I called the shelter to tell them there were people who wished to adopt the cats when Christie's sister signed the paperwork to adopt them out. They agreed to call me when this happened. A few days later I called back only to find out that the shelter had euthanized all three cats after the paperwork was signed. Their story was that the cats had all contracted upper respiratory infection. I was outraged, as were the others who had volunteered to adopt the cats.

I had been contemplating on getting Scooter a buddy for a couple months prior to Christie's untimely death because he was bored and started to pull tufts of fur from his tail area, leaving them like little fuzzy gifts for me all around the house. When I found out that Christie's sister was not able to keep Boo (Christie's favorite) and that Boo was still at Christie's townhome being cared for by the neighbor until her lease ran out the end of October, I called the neighbor and told him I would like to take Boo. Christie had done some cat-sitting for me in the past for Scooter when I was out of town a few weekends, so Scooter was familiar with her smell and absolutely loved her. Apparently the two of them watched the Animal Planet on TV together, had lunch together and sat out on the deck. Scooter was totally spoiled by her and loved every second of it. When I brought Boo home in the cat carrier on October 31, Scooter was overjoyed. From that day forward the two of them were in LOVE!! They have been buddies ever since.

I have so many wonderful memories of Boo, whom I dubbed "Boo Boo Kitty" and I find it hard to think that he is no longer with us. Scooter has lost his best friend and is so sad, and yes, we can tell that he is very sad. I know that perhaps in my own mind that Christie and Boo Boo are now together again, and that makes me very happy.

...and the Cold of the Century Still Lingers...

I cannot believe I am STILL SICK!!! It seems that this began about the last week in July - - -actually, yes, it was the week I went back to work after having taken leave of absence during the summer. Now my ears are all plugged up and I'm still sounding very congested. The sad thing is most of my co-workers are battling the same thing. I do hope this finally goes away!

Boo is still having problems. Tonight he was trying to walk away from the sofa, and I have no idea where he was going. He looked like a cat on a mission, but couldn't really get himself where he wanted to be...

I'm sad to say this but I think Boo does not have much longer with us...

We try to make him as comfy as possible and he still loves to eat, but he's forgetting where the box is at the other end of the sofa, and although he doesn't seem to be hurting anywhere, his little eighteen and one-half year old body is just too exhausted to go very far. He's such a sweet little guy, and this week has been what I imagine to be like hospice care - - Chris has been here during the day and Lola and I have been here at night trying to make sure he's as relaxed and happy as he can be.

Lola is still liking school, but this year she is extremely forgetful when it comes to homework. It seems that without micro-managing her subjects and staying in touch with her teachers, she would forget homework every night. So far she's getting A's and B's, but with this going the way it is, I'm not omnipotent and she's going to have to bite off a big chunk of responsibility or else her grades are going to head south in a big way. Her teachers have been great in making sure to tell her when things are homework and when they are classwork, but like I said, we all can't be there every moment monitoring her taking the books home that she needs. She is liking her technology class and for the most part, she loves her teachers, especially her ESOL teacher.

Poor Little Boo Boo

Boo Boo is not doing well. He’s had a few seizures, his back legs are quite stiff with arthritis and, for the past few months, has been a permanent resident on the sofa. We have set up the sofa with plastic mattress covers for protection and incontinence pads so he has easy access to his litter box on one end, food in the middle and his bed on the other end. It’s worked out fairly well. He does have bladder accidents but it’s easily cleaned up by removing the soiled incontinence pad and replacing it with a new one. His appetite is quite good, and he’s still interacting with us when we get home from work and school, but his general health is declining. Scooter has been close by, sleeping in a nearby chair in case Boo needs anything.

My Little Chocolate Bunny

Last Sunday we were invited to a picnic by one of Chris' business associates in Washington, GA. The Labor Day picnic is an annual event with huge numbers of people in attendance. There is barbecue (this year there was pork, beef, chicken AND goat), a vast array of side dishes populating three long tables and a table dedicated just to desserts. This picnic takes place on a farm outside of Washington and there are cows and horses and dogs and cats and food and it is just FUN!! So Chris, Kimmi, Lola and I piled into the car and drove the two hours to attend for the afternoon. I took Lola's swimsuit along in case we found anywhere to swim that day (the weather was upward of 90 degrees and HUMID). Since were driving by Lake Oconee I thought she would enjoy swimming in a place with no chlorine (the poor thing has such eye discomfort swimming in chlorinated pools). The picnic was a blast, as usual, Lola had a good time in spite of it being HOT HOT HOT outside and on the way home we stopped at a place on Lake Oconee so she could swim. There was also an inflatable Slip 'n' Slide set up and she was ecstatic about playing on it. The only drawback was, in spite of an upward curve built into the end of the slide to keep kids from flying off the end, there were still kids being launched upward and outward onto the ground. That in itself was bad enough, but at the end the grass had been so inundated with water and the stomping of little feet it had become a giant mud puddle. So, with Lola excited to play on this thing and me overcoming the fear of my child breaking bones and becoming a mud-ball, I relented and let her go on it. She was very careful in trying not to go flying off the end (we watched several people who were not so cautious and she paid close attention to the results) but there were a couple times where she underestimated her speed and slid off (thankfully not flying off) the end into the mud. Without hesitation, she went running back to the line to do it again! After awhile of running, sliding and only falling off the end three times out of about thirty passes, she decided her arms hurt from trying to break her fall those few times and her stomach hurt from all that sliding. She jumped and swam in the lake for awhile to clean up and we got her clothes changed and headed home. On Monday she said her arms hurt a lot (muscle strain) so we put cool packs on them and let her rest up. She was excused from P.E. for part of this week and she seems to be doing much better. And yes, we have photos of Lola looking like a chocolate bunny!