Goodbye Arthur

To say that Arthur was an awesome cat would be an understatement.  Many cats have come and gone from our home, but Arthur was one of a kind.
 

We rescued Arthur 3 years ago last May.  He was 6 years old when we got him.  His previous owners didn’t want him anymore.  His coat was absolutely terrible, he had a blocked tear duct and consequently his eye ran water and that whole area had dried crusty stuff around it.  His teeth were filthy.  I wondered at the time what I was getting myself into.  But we took him, he just looked so pitiful.
 

From the moment we got him home, it was plain that he felt he was now safe and in his forever home.  He just made himself at home and made us his Mom and Dad.  I took him into the vet and had his teeth cleaned and that blocked tear duct looked into.  It couldn’t be cleared but that was no big deal, it didn’t seem to bother him and we just wiped away any tears that collected.  We brushed his coat many, many times a day and it took a few months to retain it’s natural health.
 

Nothing bothered him, absolutely nothing, well maybe the vacuum cleaner if it got too close.  He had to come and check out every visitor that arrived.  He talked to us, oh man did he talk.  He never shut up!!  He came when called.  When it came time to go south for the winter we thought we had better get him used to the RV so we took him out into it while it was parked in the driveway.  He just walked in, sniffed around and hopped up on the couch.  Again he was right at home.  He went on several of our travels, in his crate while driving, never complaining.  He knew his favourite places and once parked he headed for them. 

He would sit beside me here on my computer desk, I hardly had room left for me.  He would sleep between us most of the night.  He always came in and said goodnight.  He’d hop up, get his loving, and then disappear for awhile.  But sometime during the night he arrived back and parked himself.

He was fine all day yesterday but around 6 PM I noticed that something was wrong, very wrong.  We got him into the vet and he was diagnosed with kidney cancer.  She said he wouldn’t survive the night.  We did what we had to do to put him out of his suffering.

The house seems somewhat empty without him in it.  He was a presence, he was a character, he was a very good friend and we miss him.

Safe travels Arthur, we love you.