He was a small domestic shorthaired kitten that I rescued back in the Fall of 2008. A friend of mine texted me a photo he had taken of an 10 week old stray kitten that had been hanging around his apartment complex. He was an adorable grey cat with white tuxedo markings and four white feet. I impusively made the decision to travel the short distance from my then home in Baltimore to Washington, D.C. where my friend lived in the Anacostia neighborhoos. My first attempt to retrieve him ended in failure as he had already developed a distrust of people due to the children in the neighborhood taunting him and trying to capture him. So after the failed attempt, I resolved to make another attempt on a different day. Fortunately, my second attempt was successful and Boots (who was initially called Symmetry) found himself in my Baltimore row home. The first thing he did was find a place to hide. I had already obtained supplies (food, litter box, etc.) and wondered how I would get him acclimated to being indoors. To my surprise, he intuitively knew he was safe. One night I woke up to find him sitting contentedly on my chest! I discovered he went to the bathroom on a rug underneath a coffee table in my living room. I moved the litter box to that spot, and placed the waste in it. Bingo! He quickly realized that this is where he was supposed to use the bathroom. My new charge quickly grew comfortable in his new home and was very comfortable with me. Not so much with visitors. Just hearing the doorbell was enough to cause him to hide. I took him to be neutered and thankfully, he never developed the nasty habit of spraying. Boots quickly became a part of my life that I didn’t know I was missing and his care and comfort was always a priorty for me. In the Winter of 2009 I broke my ankle and was bed ridden for 3 months. Boots was a constant companion to me and dutifully slept next to me throughout the night. Two dear friends of mine came by dutifully to feed him and clean his litter box. In 2012, our lives changed in an unexpected way. I met my now husband, Ken, in September of 2012. Ken wasn’t a cat person and in fact was allergic to them! He recognized that Boots was a beloved member of the family and had one request – Boots stays off the bed! Well, Boots didn’t get the memo! One morning as we were getting ready to start our day, Boots came into the bedroom and jumped up on the bed. Ken ordered him off and Boots, in typical cat fashion ignored him. He had no such restrictions prior to this. Ken decided to physically extricate Boots from the bed. Boots dug in defiantly! After a few minutes of this tug of war, Boots gave up and after that never got on a bed again. He was a very well behaved cat and had an innate sense of boundaries. He didn’t jump up on counters, but found floral arrangements and house plants irrisistable. He also had a wierd fixation with rubber bands which along with his toy mice, he would methodically drop in his water bowl. In December of 2013, we moved to Atlanta, Georgia, and Boots came with us. He endured the 10 plus hours in the car and thanks to a sedative he had gotten from the vet before our departure, didn’t make a fuss until shortly before our arrival at the condo we were renting. It was during this vet visit that we learned Boots had severe peridontal disease that would have to be addressed after the move. Just as we were getting settled into the condo, an extreme freeze caused the pipes to burst flooding our condo. We had to vacate the unit and settle into an extended day hotel. Thankfully, Boots found a place in our room were he was comfortable and could hide – we called them “forts”. We managed to turn this misfortune into opportunity and at the urging of the realtor that we used to find the condo we were renting, decided to embark upon a home purchase. In short order, we found our current home and settled in during the month of March, 2014. There was a veterinarian across the street from the extended day hotel we were in and we scheduled Boots’ oral surgery for move day so he wouldn’t be underfoot. To our surprise, having 5 teeth extracted didn’t set him back too much and we were unable to administer the pain killers he was prescribed by our vet and was attempting to eat his kibble on the second day! It took him a while to get used to our huge 4 storey home. After two bouts of dental surgery (the second of which removed all remaining molars) costing in excess of $1,200 each, we opted to take out pet insurance. Boots dreaded his annual trips to the vet and also got car sick in his carrier. However, after his arrival, his curious nature took over and he was happy to explore the examination room. We had an excellent pet sitter https://www.petmeisters.com/ that would take excellent care of him when we were away. We were always anxious about being away from him and he let us know when we got home that he was upset with us for leaving him. He even grew to recognize what was going to take place when he saw our luggage! Boots was remarkably healthy for a senior cat and we were vigilant about getting his examinations annully. Earlier this year, he experienced constipation and his vet and I agreed that due to his age he should be seen twice a year. This was last October. A few weeks ago, right before Thanksgiving, I noticed that he wasn’t having bowel movements. He had several episodes of what I can only characterize as coughing. Although this only happened a few times, we immediately recognized that we needed to seek vet care. I took him to the vet who took an x-ray that showed his instestinal tract was full. She also saw something that caused her concern to the extent that she sent the x-rays off to another specialist to review. We were devastated to learn that Boots had a mass in his chest that was likely a carcinoma. I always knew that as he got older he was reaching what is the normal lifespan of an indoor cat – 15 years. While some cats are able to make it to 18 or 20, the reality is that the older cats get, the likelihood of a fatal health issue becomes more prevalent. I was surprised to learn that 50% of all cats develop cancer in their senior years. The other health challenge is kidney failure. We had to come to the realization that our time with Boots might be coming to an end. We opted to seek out an aspiration test to determine if the mass was cancerous. The veterinarian that we consulted with advised that it was probably not necessary to perform the aspiration test unless we wanted to pursue intervention, which in this case was surgery to remove the mass and chemotherapy that was not likely to be very effective. We could not phathom putting him through this. We opted to have them administer an enema, bring him home with stool softener and high fiber food and to keep him as comfortable as possible for however long he had left. The consulting oncologist said we were looking at about two months if the carcinoma was left untreated. The enema seemed to be successful and his appetite quickly came back although he was lethargic for a few days. Shortly after the procedure he seemed to rebound and was back to his normal Boots behavior! To our dismay, the day after the proceedure was the last day we saw a bowel movement and by the fourth day, he lost his appetite and we knew he was backed up again. We took him back to the emergency vet on Monday, December 5th, 2022. We opted to have them perform a sonogram to see if there was anything that might be obstructing the bowel. We also agreed to another enema. Ultimately, we were advised that the constipation was “idiopathic” which means no discernable cause. The enema did not appear to have the impact we expected and the vet was recommending “detoxipation” which is basically manually extracting the impacted feces. We did not want to put him through this if ultimately he might be back to square one a few days later. We made the excruitiation decision to proceed with compassionate euthanasia. I can’t stress how hard it is to recognize one’s feeling that it’s best for your pet but also struggling with the notion that you’re making a decsion to end its life. We opted to be present for the proceedure because we felt it was important to say goodbye. We were placed in a quiet waiting room with ambient lighting. We opted to receive his ashes. They brought him into us bundled in a blanket and I was surprised by how calm he was. He looked at me and Ken and looked around the room – ever the curious cat! However, when he tucked his head away in the crook of my arm, I recognized this as his gesture that he was distressed and wanted to go home. It was at this point that I broke down and cried like a baby. I signaled the vet that it was ok to administer the first of two injections. The first is a sedative which cause sleep. The second injection stops the heart. The whole process took less than 2 minutes. I felt his body spasm a few times as the remnants of life left and my beloved baby Boots was gone. The finality of it all was so striking and impactful. The vet technician came and expressed his condolences and took Boots away and we were left with our raw emotions. Now, it’s two days later and we are processing our feelings of grief and loss. Yesterday, I gathered up all signs of being a pet parent and disposed of his belongings. I accepted expressions of sympathy from family and friends and began to come to terms with Boots’ absence. This morning Ken and I picked out an urn that will hold his ashes. It’s a black lacquer box we found at https://www.etsy.com/listing/1205995864/pet-memorial-shadow-box-urn-for-animal?ga_order=most_relevant&ga_search_type=all&ga_view_type=gallery&ga_search_query=cat+urn+for+ashes+custom&ref=sr_gallery-1-46&frs=1&edd=1&organic_search_click=1p It will have our favorite photo of Boots with the inscription “You were our favorite hello and our hardest goodbye.” I know that time will lessen the sting of our loss, but I also know that we will never forget the loving bond we shared with our furry friend. I am honored that I was able to give him the life every animal deserves. We will miss him profoundly.