Remembering our Adorable Cat, Bleu Kitty

 

It's hard to believe our dear blue-gray Persian boy is gone!  He was 12 years, 2 months old and he brought nothing but joy to our lives.  The tears are flowing and our home is so empty without him.

How to describe this great cat?  

After doing our research, we adopted him in October 2011 from Disaronno-Persians in Bradenton, Florida when he was 7 months old. (His birthday was 3/25/11).  We'll never forget meeting him for the first time.  The breeder opened the door and he came prancing out to meet us.  He never knew a stranger; he was so friendly to us and all he met along the way.  He was the runt of the litter and the breeder thought he would be full grown at  5 lbs.  She was incorrect.  He grew to normal size, 9 lbs. and his distinguishing characteristic was his curly tail.  We think his atypical tail is why he was adopted out as a pet, not a show animal.  His coloring was beautiful.  He had blue gray fur on this head and body with a fetching white mussel with a white underbelly and white boots.  His eyes were alert and a sparkling amber color.  Oh, he was a gorgeous little guy!

Bleu had personality plus!  In the 12 years of his life, he was full of fun antics.  When he was a "child" cat, he jumped from couch to chair making a full circle over my sister's lap before he settled down.  He would routinely get "the zoomies" and race back in forth by us particularly when we were eating in the kitchen.  He loved people to watch him eat.  He would look up from his dish at you to make sure you were admiring his fine appetite.  He woke Richard up every morning at 6 AM sharp by standing on this chest or laying by his side.  He purred beautifully while I read the paper.  He was our companion cat. He watched tv with me and laid down next to me.  He loved to sniff flowers and plants and chew them.  We had to move the plants from his favorite haunt, our lanai, to make sure he wouldn't consume anything that would cause digestive distress.

Speaking of our lanai, that was where he patrolled up an down looking at the water in our canals, birds, squirrels, bunnies or whatever he could observe.  He would crouch like a hunter when something good was within his sight.  Oh, it was fun to watch him make his moves.  His favorite lanai activity was catching geckos.  He caught quite a few in his time on earth and was proud of his hunting skills.

Surprisingly, he made a terrific "boat" cat.  He sailed to the Bahamas on our boat, Eagles Wings, and truly "went with the flow" of whatever we were doing.  He never got sick from rocking around in rough waters.  As soon as the boat settled down, he was ready to eat and would let us know it was time to feed him.  One time after a long passage, we left a hatch open on the boat.  A fellow boater alerted us that he saw our cat heading down the dock.  We thought this was impossible!  We knew Bleu was on the boat.  But, "no" he had crawled through the hatch, jumped off the boat between the dock and water and went exploring.  We and others led a merry chase of him and fortunately, he tired of this game and came back to us.  We were very careful after that - we knew he loved to explore and check out new environments.  He learned to walk on a leach in the marina and always attracted a crowd of admirers.  He loved to meet little dogs and sniffed them.  We were always amazed with his fearless attitude and love to people and other animals.

As Bleu grew older, when he saw us preparing our boat from the lanai, he hollered at us, letting us know that he wanted to board the boat and partake of any adventure we were going on. 

We traveled a lot seeing many countries of the world and having foreign visitors stay with us as part of an organization called Friendship Force.  Bleu made friends with whoever stayed with us and we can attest that especially the Russian and Japanese visitors loved him dearly.  He had wonderful cat sitters who stayed with him either at our home or he would go to theirs.  We so appreciate Becky, Angela, Christel, Stephanie & Larry, and the Cat Cottage for taking such good care of him throughout the years.  Bleu also loved little children.  When he first met my niece's 2 yr old daughter, Francesca, he was enthralled with her.  Later, he even traveled under our seat to visit her in Connecticut on a plane flight.  When he was in the airport terminal, people asked to see him and took pictures of him. 

Bleu ready for a night on the town.  Bleu did not like taking a bath!

Christmas was always happy with Bleu.  He loved sitting under the lights of the Christmas tree and rarely bothering any of the ornaments.  He know they were part of the decorations and he respected that.  He loved older people and had a special relationship with my Mom, who is now 102 years old.  He visited South Port Square and brought joy to many of the residents there.  He seemed to sense when someone was sick and knew to sit next to them and purr.  Recently, he visited my Mother at the Assisted Care Facility and upon seeing her, jumped into her chair to sit next to her.  My mother loved that!

It was devastating to us when Bleu got sick.  The vet tried hard to figure it out and decided he had lymphoma.  They gave him prednisone for 3 months which gave him a new "lease on life."  He was back to his old cheerful self, pain free.  However, the drug only lasted a short time.  Bleu went down fast.  In the previous article, we tell about what we went through saying goodbye to him.  He did enjoy his last cruise, at least in the beginning, but by the 3rd day, it was time to take him home.  We realized he was suffering when he could not eat and drink.  We took him to the vet and he was put down with me (Joanne) holding him and Richard petting him.  

We have a big hole in our hearts and our home is so empty.  Today we buried him in our backyard near the lanai he loved and we placed a stone with his name on it.  We said prayers and a goodbye.  We will never forget this special little cat who brought such joy to our lives.  We hope to see him again in the next world. He is sweetness and light.  Rest in peace, dear little one, our Bleu Kitty.