December 15, 2006

Last week stunk. Our cat Max had been fighting a cold for a few weeks. He seemed to get better, but then he would relapse and get sick again. We took him to the vet twice, but were unsatisfied with her diagnosis – “Max is in perfect health.” Hannah found a cat specialist in Castle Rock, 30 minutes south of us, and she took him there.

Once there, she explained the history and the vet noticed that Max’s coat looked unkempt. He decided to run some tests, and found that he had the virus called Feline Infectious Peritonitis (FIP). FIP is extremely rare, and only 1% of cats are diagnosed with it. He told us that there was no cure, and that Max would appear to get better, and then get worse – never fully recovering and steadily going down hill. The decision was made to put him down.

The morning we were scheduled to put him down, Max was feeling better and purred when we picked him up. It sounds dramatic, but it was one of the more difficult things I’ve had to do in my life. I bawled like a baby. The last time I cried that hard I was a child. I really bonded with that cat. On Sundays when I’d take a nap, he would jump on the bed and sit two inches from my face staring at me until would lift up the blanket and he’d crawl in. If I rolled on his legs, he wouldn’t make a sound, just kick his way out, and then go back to sleep.

Hannah and I decided that we needed another cat right away, so we went to the pound and picked up a 15 pound black male. He’s very mellow, likes Sally (our other cat), and sleeps all day….he’s perfect. We tossed around several names, and landed on Pete…I think. For fun I’ll list a few of the names we tried on:

1. Berry White: Named after the R&B singer. Berry White was a ladies man, and had a deep baritone voice. When Pete was at the pound he was in a room with all females, and he would let them lay on him, and has a deep rumbling purr, but his meow is a soprano.
2. John Coffee: Named after the black guy in the movie “The Green Mile.”
3. Puddy: Named after David Puddy on Seinfield
4. Molasses (Mo for short): Black Strap Molasses??? Slower than molasses??? I don’t know it just seemed to kind of fit.
5. Mouse Face: From the side he looks like a mouse.
6. Chief Meow Meow. This was Hannah’s first choice but Eric rejected it.

What ever we end up calling him, we’re glad to have another cat.