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Tad
(1997 – 2006)
Tad
left this world far too soon, our little guy having lost his
battle with cancer just shy of age 9. A ravishingly
beautiful Maine Coon, Tad was a bright light in our lives.
He was sweet and lovable and funny. Tad (along with his
brother Joey, who survives him) gave every appearance of
believing that all humans, whether family or complete
strangers, were put on earth to adore him. He’d give you a
seductive squint of the eyes that we came to call ‘the
woojie look’ that was irresistible, and it wouldn’t take
long before even cat-averse humans (imagine!) were under his
spell. Even our few friends who are allergic to cats would
frequently leave our apartment teary-eyed and sniffly
because they couldn’t resist petting Tad!
Tad’s
favorite thing in the world was to curl up with us in bed.
In fact, no matter where he was or what he was doing in the
apartment, upon hearing one of us snapping our fingers on
the way to the bedroom, Tad would drop everything and race
to bound up on our bed to cuddle and be petted. His other
favorite place was on Patricia’s lap while watching TV at
night. Tad would invariably stretch out on his back and
offer his beautiful furry tummy to be petted and stroked.
It didn’t take much to get him to purr, and his purr was
world-class.
Over
the summer, we noticed Tad beginning to lose weight and
brought him in for a check-up. His previous check-up
several months earlier had been excellent, and I think we
felt like he’d be with us for another 15 years. But this
time the news was not good as, to our horror, we learned
that he had GI lymphoma. Despite the poor prognosis, we
were hopeful that treatment and care by our friends at
Manhattan Cats would gain him (and us) another year or two…
but it was not to be.
As the
weeks went on, he became increasingly weak and lethargic,
but thankfully never seemed to be in discomfort or pain.
And right until his final day, he never tired of closeness
and petting. Two nights before he left us, I was sitting on
our terrace reading the paper and he jumped up to curl up on
my chest right on top of the paper. I wrapped my jacket
around him and we sat together like that under the Manhattan
sky for over an hour. Then, on the night that turned out to
be his last, when we went to bed he insisted on curling up
and sleeping right up by my face, so soft and sweet. The
next day he was gone.
Tad’s
departure left a huge hole in our lives, which makes us
appreciate his wonderful brother Joey and cousin Ebony even
more. Life goes on for us and these two sweet and
affectionate cats, but something is missing and will never
be the same without Tad. He’ll forever be missed - our
beautiful, sweet kitty with the irresistible woojie look.
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