Once there was a Boy Cat ... a eulogy
In December 2003, two little tuxedo cats came into our lives ... Charlie Boy and Georgie Girl became known as ‘Boy’ and ‘Girl’, because friends could never tell them apart and would forever be asking, ‘Which one is the girl/boy?’
On Sunday, 27 February 2022, Boy left us ... the 18 ½ year old ‘King of the Street’, took himself to the end of our driveway, overlooking his ‘Kingdom’ and waited for us to come home ... as he had done so many times before. Only this time, it was going to be his last!
Just that morning we had been chatting to his holistic vet, Joanna, telling her that we wanted him to live his last days without medical intervention. We knew he would choose his time and place – and so he did.
Our beautiful neighbours were there to support us: Jo came to my side and looked after him whilst I made that most difficult of all calls, to tell Kali, ‘Boy has died’; Amber (who usually nurses humans) wrapped him in a deep red towel, as if it was a shroud and brought him to me; Terry and Amber made sure the place where he had died was as it had been before he left us. And when Kali came home, we sat with Boy on our front deck ... we had a candle burning as we talked to him and about him, patted him and caressed his little, front paws. Amber and her family arrived with flowers, a card and a bottle of wine!
Before I left for my walk that morning, he’d stood beside me whilst I played the piano, reaching out with his paw to be picked up. I told him I’d be back soon and would play for him. Whilst Kali sat with our Boy, I came inside and, with tears falling on my cheeks, played him just one last song
We took him on his final journey, wrapping his shroud in a favourite, fluffy brown rug and chauffeuring him to Lawnswood, where they would take care of our Boy, cremating him as they had done with his sister. Girl is waiting for him and when they are together again, we will have their ashes created into a piece of pottery that will come with us on our caravanning trips. Boy so desperately wanted to join us on these adventures. Instead, he stayed home with caring house sitters who fussed over him and served him meals fit for a King ... even one who served him bacon and eggs! He was most disappointed when we returned and was then served merely egg!!!
We came home that evening, sat in our Adirondack chairs on the front deck (one of Boy’s favourite spots) and toasted the amazing life Boy had lived ... surviving two snake bites (and who knows about the other two snakes that we found dead in the yard – did Boy get his revenge?) and losing his right hind leg when he was only 6 years old! And just how many more ‘lives’ he lost over his lifetime, we will never know!
Boy was the aloof, quiet and adventurous one until Girl died 4 years ago. He then found his voice, calling to us with his distinctive ‘allo’ (it really did sound like ‘hello’) until he sought us out somewhere in the house or bellowing at the door, to either be let in or out (despite having a perfectly good cat door). He also gave us every single ounce of affection he could muster ... climbing from one lap to another for his evening cuddles in front of the tv; snuggling on our beds at night (although this became more difficult for him because of the huge leap that was required to get up on them); tapping or reaching out with his paw to be picked up and hugged; laying cradled in our arms, with his ‘antennae leg’ sticking straight up! He just loved to be loved!!!
Boy became known as ‘That Stupid Cat’ in his last few months – forever underfoot and tripping us over; repeatedly returning to his food bowl expecting that we will have refilled it with a favourite food (chicken??) when he had just eaten; seeking refuge under the cars, so before coming or going in a vehicle there was a cat spotting activity to ensure he was safe (although the end of his tail did end up being under a wheel recently ... fortunately, no consequences!)
The day after Boy left us, having cried many tears, shared many memories and pondering this quiet home ... I heard him scratch the chair whilst I was working on the computer! That evening, I decided to shower before bed (had actually started to do so a couple of times during the day after returning from the beach). I got out of the shower, dried, dressed, even put on my face cream ... and then turned around. There on the shower screen was an image – at first I thought, look at that deer ... and then I looked again! It made no sense that where I had wiped away the water droplets, the steam had created an image – it was Boy looking down on us! I took some photos, rushed down to show Kali, but by the time we got back, he was gone – we cried together!
I had never had a cat before Boy and Girl came into our home! I just didn’t know what they could bring into our lives: such joy, such great company (on their terms), so many laughs and a few moments of heart-ache along the way! I wouldn’t have had it any other way ... in the words of Alfred Lord Tennyson: “’tis better to have loved and lost than never have loved at all.” I know now that cats leave pawprints in our hearts forever!
And in the words of another great poet, Charles Dickens:
