Farewell

Yesterday a phase of my life ended - long in sight and then abruptly - that accompanied me for almost half my life. Almost exactly 24 years ago - on August 15.8.1994, XNUMX - two cats moved into my/our household. Since then there have always been cats in my life. Did you know that around the turn of the millennium I set up and administered Germany's most visited cat site on the Internet?

On Saturday we unfortunately had to say goodbye to the last remaining kitty in our household. Bavi was eighteen and a half years old almost to the day and we had been pureeing her food for a long time because she no longer had any teeth. Finally, we raised her food because a tumor in her throat made swallowing difficult. Yesterday the tumor got so big that she couldn't eat any more food. She found peace again with her little body on my stomach when I lay down on the sofa. She claimed one of her favorite places one last time and together we were able to say goodbye peacefully.

Cats have always meant a lot to me because they can show wonderful airs and graces. Marlowe – one of the first two cats to move in with us and accompanied me for 15 years – retrieved small softballs for me. Later he happily put them in the water bowl unnoticed and then brought me completely soaked balls. Of course, I always only noticed this when I picked it up to throw it again. Naomi – a beautiful Somali cat – always sat on my shoulder while I ate. With a live weight of around 3kg, it's not exactly fun either. Once she stole the cheese from my bread with a quick, targeted claw just before I could take a bite. Rayanne, a typical LaPerm, loved to sit on the radiator in the winter and preferred to sleep near her human's head. Anyone who lay down near her had to expect that she would wake up from her deep sleep and then continue sleeping as a scarf on the person's neck.

So now Bavi, Rayanne's mother, who came up with new capers every two weeks: sometimes she drank water exclusively from the bathtub tap, sometimes only from the potted plants on the neighbor's balcony. Finally, she needed three different presentations of food before she finally ate the food from the first bowl that was put there.

A picture from September last year

So on August 18.8.18, XNUMX, this wonderful chapter of my life with cats ends. Despite some of the nonsense we had to endure (my dear wife always said jokingly, "I'll make a fur hat out of you"), I enjoyed every minute. The apartment is now a little emptier - and much quieter...