RIP Max

RIP Max
12/22/2009 10:55:11 AM
We lost our beloved male cat, Max, last weekend. He struggled home with a dislocated hip - probably hit by a car on a Thursday. Martha ran him across the street to the vet for x-rays and surgery estimate.....$2000! ouch! So we brought him home to assess and consult our vet. Martha found, though, that dislocated hips in cats can heal naturally with enough rest -- though they'll walk a little funny. So we got a dog cage to keep him confined and waited for our vet to call. Max would drink, but wouldn't eat. And occasionally he let out heart-wrenching cries. Eventually, after two days, he crawled into his litter box and passed away on Sunday. Patrick and I carried him across the street to the vet where they took him. The next day - December 14th - I picked his body up from the vet (they'd put him in a little cat casket) and buried him up on the hill next to our house; where he'd spent many days surveying his territory.



Patrick and Nathan were devastated. And so were we. I've had many cats in my life. But none were like Max. He was a lovable lug; a blue collar cat who was more like a dog. He would come when you called, you could pick him up and toss him around and he never complained. He was very strong and a fierce hunter. We regularly came down to find he'd caught chipmunks, birds, moles and even squirrels that were left for us on the back porch. And for some reason, he always liked to eat the heads (??) But we never saw him hiss or growl.. He flopped down in uninhibited and undignified positions wherever the mood hit him. And you could usually know he was in the room by his wheezy snoring. But the most telling characteristic was his constant purring. It defined his personality. He was always there to be scratched and curled up with and didn't ask for any more. His was the most unconditional love and the thing we'll miss the most. He was the measure of a great cat.