An Incomparable Siamese
Loverboy was a beautiful chocolate seal point Siamese who passed away at the end
of October 2001 from kidney disease at the age of--we believe--14 years. He was the perfect feline, we miss him
and always will.
We had him for just over 10 years. He was
mistreated in his kittenhood by a person or persons unknown to us who should not have had animals. Because of that
first care-provider, he kept his distance, and was unwilling to trust us, until he realized that we loved him unconditionally.
He was rescued from that owner by a friend, Eileen, in Wisconsin, where she was then living. He was left with her without
any warning. She named him Loverboy. He rarely answered to that name, but Lover really was a lover. She
later moved back home to New Jersey, bringing Loverboy with her.
That's when we met him. Eileen was returning to her parents, who
were our neighbors. The house he was in had another cat, a dog, and five persons, and the house wasn't large. We think
Lover wanted quiet, and attention---which he wasn't getting. He found us, and adopted us. When Eileen left a year later
to join her husband back in Wisconsin she left Loverboy with us. He was used to the outdoors, and the best she could provide
was an apartment.
He could have been named Lappy. He always wanted a lap. Whomever was available. He spent the nights
on my lap, after everybody else went to bed. I disturbed him when I got up to get my post midnight snack. He would usually
let me sit down again where I had been, and would usually get back onto my lap. He would then spend the night in my
room.
He wanted to be watched when he
ate. If somebody was home he summoned them and they had to watch him eat. He also knew when we were looking elsewhere when
we were standing there. He would stop eating, look up at us and remind us why we were there. He did not care who it was
who looked at him eating, but he would summon the person who was farthest away on that floor. Once or twice
he even went upstairs and got me out of bed for the purpose of eating. The food was already there waiting for him to
eat; dry food, perhaps, but food nevertheless. And then one day, he ate without calling us. We had told him it
wasn't necessary. I guess he finally believed us. Oh do I miss that.
He was a very literate feline. On Christmas morning we would invariably
find a book or two underneath the tree. It would always be about cats or a partular car. After
I got this PC he became an expert in greeting card making--he never forgot Christmas, birthdays, anniversaries, and the like.
There would always be a card with his name on it, almost always featuring cats on it. How else could one explain it?
An absolutely amazing pet.
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| Loverboy on the front porch |
There were times, especially at night, after Loverboy went to the Rainbow Bridge,
that I would walk into a room and I could swear that he was there. We loved him and he is missed, even a decade later.
He was the perfect feline and he will not be forgotten.
Since Then
A few months after Loverboy died the local Animal hospital contacted us
and asked if we would adopt a Maine coon named Maxime. She had lost her home as a consequence of her people divorcing.
She had been with them for a decade and I guess she did not know what was happening. We, of course, said yes.
However, she was not pleased with the arrangement. She was with strangers, strangers who would not allow her outside.
She was by nature an outdoor cat. We had not yet got her name tags and we would not allow her outside without
them. Of course Maxime didn't understand. Three weeks after we got her she managed to get outside, into the back
yard, and freedom. We never saw her again. We have no idea what became of her. I hope she survived and found
a good home.
At the end of April 2003
there was a cat up for adoption at the Humane Society of Ocean City. There was an article in the local newspaper about him. However that cat did not want to be adopted---I was
told he didn't leave his container. I expected to see that cat when my parents got home from the shelter, and I stayed
home to prepare the place for him. There was a cat willing to be adopted.
His name was Pumpkin, and as the name suggests he was an orange tabby.
Back then he was fat. He was an indoor cat and had no desire to go outside. He had plenty of oppertunity to go
outside but he never took it, he never willingly left the house. When he had an appointment with the veterinarian
we had to engage in a military operation to capture him.
He was not a lap cat and many times he would not show himself unless
he wanted food--at which time he would make extremly nice. After a long illness, and after the treatments he was receiving
stopped working, he went to the Rainbow Bridge at the end of June 2010.
