Today is Fluffy’s birthday, he would have been 19. You were so close buddy. I wanted to remember you on this day and try to say goodbye my first cat.
I say ‘first’ cat because you became my cat by way of marriage. I met you in 2016 when I started dating Amanda and I understood it was a package deal. You were here first, so I had to make sure my allergies to cats never presented an issue and somehow they didn’t. You were standoffish at first, but quickly you warmed up. Eventually you found the time to play with your cat toys with me. Eventually, you would become the first to move to the new house in 2017 as we became a family.
Jump forward to 2018 and I started a new job, this time working from home. Now you had someone to keep to company all day long, so you became my desk buddy. You would hang out with me during the day, mostly calm but occasionally would swat my headphones cable or bite my sticky notes on my monitor. I eventually made a decoy set of stickies that you could bite so mine would stay unharmed. I will never forget the time you forced your way into the back part of the basement during a meeting I was on and then the power went out. I was certain you had somehow chewed on the power cables and fried yourself, but it was just the storm at that time of course.
We did this for a while, survived covid when everyone was at home. Deebo came along to crash your only cat party in 2021, but you made it work. You did not like him, but you would tolerate him, at least sometimes. We made another move later this year to your final house. You really were a champ at adapting to changes. You never complained about it, just found your food and your litterboxes and settled in. You truly were a cool cat.
As the years went on, you hanging out at the desk started to wane as you were better suited with hanging out on your own, but always would make your presence known. I will always fondly remember the time when you started limping around the house and I was so worried about you that I took you to the vet. They looked over you and said it was probably a cut on your paw, but would eventually talk me into x-rays and would find nothing wrong with you other than some irritation to your paw. I only wanted to make sure you were in the best health possible.
In 2023, we started to see that your left eye was not looking great. I will always remember taking you to the vet and them telling me that the glaucoma we had been fighting probably had taken your sight and the eye needed to be removed. It was a difficult choice to make, but for your well-being we proceeded with the eye removal. One of the biggest reliefs in my life was when the vet called after your surgery to let us know that you had made it through. This year 2023 brought us many challenges, but I was happy to have a pirate cat all things considered.
The years rolled on and you adapted and started to slow down. We knew that your years were coming to a close, but every now and then you showed that true cat in you, rolling on toys with catnip. You were a champ and did not complain ever, even as our cat family grew adding in Marshmallow in 2023 and a kitten Marty in 2024. You did become more vocal in your old age and would let us know when you wanted some treats though. You certainly gave us a scare in mid 2025 and we thought that you were ready. But a week later you were bouncing back like nothing had ever happened!
You were nearing 19 years old and you seemed to be going strong. We tried some new meds and your energy seemed just as excellent as before. But then near Easter weekend 2026, your poor body decided it was time. Your mind was still agile and you wanted to do all the things that you were used to, but your body was not able to follow through. Now we knew it was time to say goodbye and we knew that you were ready too. You had given everything you could to us even though we weren’t ready to say goodbye, we knew it was time to let you rest.
Thank you Fluffy for allowing me to spend the ten years I had with you, and the nearly nineteen that you gave Amanda and Jacob. We will always cherish those memories we made together and we are sad that we cannot make more with you. We love you forever and will miss you dearly.
RIP Fluffy May 2, 2007 – April 7, 2026.