Georgie the Kitty Boy

 A few weeks ago I shared about Beatle Man, a kitty our friend Deb and her husband Tommy lost to illness. I recently received the following note from Deb:

 

Hope all is well with you!  I want to introduce you to Georgie, our new kitty boy!

I walked in to Heritage Humane Society a few weeks ago and there he was, in all his red tabby splendor, sprawled out on the floor of the cat colony.  His original Mom went to assisted living, and entrusted her kitty to her granddaughter, who gave him up for adoption.  Fortunately, he was only at the shelter for 9 days, before we brought him to his new home.  His card said he was 15, but his rabies record states his birthday is 10/14/97, and even with my math skills, I figure he is really 13!  Anyway, he is afraid of dogs, so he hasn't come downstairs yet, but that's okay.  He's a good boy...HUGE, and has the red tabby disposition that we know and love.  He's not Beatle Man, but no one could ever replace him.  We love him for who he is...

Now as you'll see from the photo Debby sent the kitty is HUGE - he should be called "King Cat". But the thing that struck me is the old boy's age - he is somewhere around 13 - 15 years old. Now if you're not a pet person you might now get this; it is painful losing a pet. Whether or not you're a pet person you will get this; when you adopt a senior pet you are closer to losing that pet than if you had adopted a puppy or kitten - it's a math thing. It takes a special couple to adopt an old dog or old cat - and Deb and Tommy are special. Vickie and I have talked about adopting senior dogs, but I always bail out because I put my pain ahead of the senior dog needing adoption. Of course the other element is that senior pets usually require more money to care for - and that is a reality that can make or break a decision.

I hope King Cat, or King George, or Georgie the Kitty Boy will be around for a long long time; but however much longer he has to work through his nine lives, I don't think he could have done better than to have been adopted into Tommy and Deb's family. Of course, Georgie still needs to work through his canine phobia.