Welcome to the Rainbow Bridge
Cheddar 8/31/2002 - 7/23/2006
Even though Cheddar could be a pain in the neck in the house, he was a very sweet cat and LOVED the outdoors. When he finally convinced us that he was meant to be an outdoor cat (after he figured out how to open the door and let himself outside), we all got along wonderfully. He couldn't have been happier and since he wasn't driving us crazy all of the time in the house, we really enjoyed him. We would let him out every morning as we left for work and when we got home he would meet us in the garage and follow us into the house. He stayed inside during the night, which was fine with him since he got to come upstairs and sleep with us.
He was the happiest cat I'd ever seen. I used to tell Seth that he must be pretty dumb to be that happy :) He was so friendly too. He quickly became our outdoor greeter. When Phil and Jane brought Gable (Taylor's dad) over one time he came right up to them for petting and walked right up to Gable and rubbed against his nose as Gable sniffed at him and wondered who this friendly little cat was.
We think it is truly ironic that the time that we locked him in the house is the
time that he got out and never came back. We miss him meeting us as we get
home from work and him busting out of the weeds when we called him. His
recall was better than our dogs' sometimes :) We never knew what happened
to Cheddar, but hopefully wherever he is, he's happy and safe and rolling in
grass and catnip. Farewell, our "Orange Furry Bug".
Coconut
8/31/2002 - 6/24/2010
It's taken almost 6 months for me to even update my website that Coconut is actually gone, so I'm not sure what all I can say here. Coconut was a wonderful little cat. She only weighed about 5 pounds and was the oddest little thing. She was a feral cat that someone found early enough to somewhat tame her, but she always had to have her way out. She didn't like to be held unless she knew she could get away easily. Most people didn't even know she existed, because she would hide from anyone she didn't know, but as soon as she was comfortable with a person, she would be all over them, squeaking and chirping like she always did. She was so wiggly. She loved to be petted, but she was constantly moving. She had her routines and would keep me company as I got ready in the morning. She knew when it was a good time to love on me and knew not to rub against me when I was putting my contacts in. She never got into things she wasn't supposed to and NEVER used the bathroom outside her litter box.
Coconut was an indoor cat through and through. The outside terrified her. She would venture outside just a little ways, but would then come flying back inside. One day, when we had the door open, enjoying the nice weather, she got out without me noticing. She was gone for 2 weeks and I couldn't figure out what happened to her. I walked the road to see if she had gotten hit, which she hadn't. She couldn't have been found by anyone else and taken in, because she wouldn't have let them come near her. We just couldn't understand what had happened to her. Then, after 2 weeks, Sara decided to trust Sylvie's instincts and followed her to where she was pointing . . . and there was Coconut. Yup, that would be the second cat of mine that Sylvie has saved! Coconut was very thin and weak and had a few scabs, but she was alive. I kept an eye on a bump on her hip and it ended up being an abscess that we had taken care of, which she seemed to heal just fine from. A few weeks later, when I noticed she had not eaten a couple of meals, Seth found her dead on the floor of her closet. We have no idea what happened to her. She had been her usual friendly, chirpy self and then she was just gone. It may have been something that happened while she was outside that we don't know about and it just caught up with her. We could have tried to find out more, but it wouldn't bring her back and I know that I couldn't have done any more for her or loved her anymore than I already had. So we will never know what happened, but we will always have the good memories or our sweet, little chirp cat. I will always miss you, sweet Nutter.
