A Sad Post

My cat, Spaz, is at the Rainbow Bridge. He’s been a part of many moves and ventured 1/2 way around the world with us. I didn’t want to bring him with us (to South Africa), because he was already an old cat, and I felt the flight would cause too much stress  for him. I don’t think he was bothered by the flight as much as the 10 days at the kennel waiting- while our house was readied. He was accustomed to moving, since we move frequently!
Spaz, came along in 1995. I was working for a national retail Pet Supply chain at the time. While visiting a store in Chula Vista CA, I saw Spaz, at 6 weeks old. The manager had rescued a litter of kittens that had been abandoned and said they would be ready in 2 weeks. He was the only part Tabby part Siamese in the litter. I came back 2 weeks later and took him home. DH wasn’t happy but I worked for the chain and could get supplies at cost and some vet care done as well for next to nothing. Of course the work relationship ended shortly after that… but that is another story, really not worth telling.

When I brought Spaz home, we had a 4 year old Yorkie “Juju” and we had adopted an adult Rottweiler, Shayna a few months earlier. Our neighborhood was a little ‘iffy’ at the time, DH worked nights then -so we thought a big dog would be a good thing. . The yorkie wasn’t really interested in Spaz, but Shayna loved the attention and would let Spaz hang on her face! Climb, run, jump and attack…. from every angle. It was so funny to watch those to play… that little light colored kitten and that huge dark Rottweiler making hugely ferocious noises. Juju on the other hand… was your typical grouchy yorkie. Spaz out lived both of those dogs and was really happiest when we didn’t have any dogs….. but then we got Axel. Axel just never “got” that the cat wasn’t a toy! Spaz was too old to want to play with a dog, so he decided to not have anything to do with dogs. And because he thought Axel was too much, Linzi was classified the same. Although Linzi seemed to have the same level of interest in a cat as the cat in a dog.

Spaz’s only job, from the beginning, was to purr, decorate the furniture and to look good from the beginning. His only real responsibility was to take care of any mice that made it into the house. He must have done a good job, because we haven’t had any mice in the house since bringing him home. Just like the dog thing, he wasn’t much into people either. Just me, (maybe the DH by default if I wasn’t home).  He was happiest when I climbed into bed each night and he got to settle down next to me.

There is a huge hole in my daily life now that he is gone. He was an extremely easy keeper; but it’s the little things … like a fresh sip of water every time we used the bathroom tap, adding food to the bowl because the bottom was visible, making the bed with a cat on it and a greeting at bedtime.

Spaz is waiting for me at the Rainbow Bridge now, along with all my other furry friends…  and someday we will ALL be reunited.

Beth