Goodbye, Whirl

 Today is just a horribly sad day.  My cat Whirl, who sought me out 3 separate times at the shelter, who brought such joy into our lives, had to be put down today.  He developed seizures suddenly last night, several very severe, and seemed to be suffering terribly.  The vet did some tests but suspected a brain lesion, which can be common at his age (11), apparently.

He was such an affectionate, goofy cat, totally motivated by food, all food, anything that could be remotely seen as food.  If I happened to be on my computer mid-afternoon, and, heaven forbid, I wasn't feeding him when he wanted me to, he would sit at the side table staring at me, then reach out with his right front "arm" and PAT my head!  It was the funniest thing, like he said, "Ahem!  I'm waiting!!"  This would lead to face rubs, and then be repeated if I didn't get up and feed him right away.  He could be so demanding, but never in a mean or pushy way.  He chirped more than he meowed - "Brrrrpp??" When he sat, he daintily would turn out his front right paw, very genteel.  Just so darned cute.

He loved belly rubs, and knew how to curl himself "inside out" so that his enormous fuzzy tummy would be front and center for a pat.  He loved to curl up on my bathrobe in the morning for a nap, and he also loved to steal hubby's chair just after he got comfortable.

Another favorite thing he loved was greeting me in the bathroom whenever I'd been away from the house.  He'd hear me coming up the stairs and RUN to the half bathroom that we have near our back door, and there he would stand until I went in for a hello.  Obviously that came from my frequent need for the facilities after being away from home, but there was no getting around it even if I didn't need to go in there.  It was "our spot."

When he first came, he was understandably nervous.  But he quickly showed his friendly nature and became a huge part of the family.  Like all cats, he loved warm spots;

and loved to snooze wherever;

He was often one for mischief;

and was a fierce protector of the homestead;

He also had the cutest brown nose, and two "racing stripes" under his chin, as well as very tiny feet, which looked so odd with such a big belly.  When he stood on your lap, it was like having several pistons being driven into your leg.  He had big beautiful green eyes, which he would wink or, if you were lucky, slow blink at you when he was feeling affectionate. 

One of our "things" was the face flick - he would come over and sit, staring at me until I held out my stiffened fingers for him to flick along the sides of his muzzle.  We could do that all day as far as he was concerned.

At the vet's today he had to be sedated before we got to see him because of the ongoing seizures, but it was a beautiful sunny day here, so he finally got to enjoy being an outside cat as we said our goodbyes.  I am just gutted over this, and will never forget what a wonderful, treasured member of our family he was.