Post 1299: On the passing of my sister’s cat, Sox…

I read the sad news this morning. My sister, Kathy, had to make a decision about her tuxedo kitty, Sox, yesterday. He had a cancerous tumor on a front paw. She wrote:

I did have to have Sox euthanized today. It was so hard to do, but Kitty Boy was miserable and so sad to watch. It took me until 3:30 this afternoon to finally let him go.

The Dr. said he most likely had a stroke, perhaps caused by the cancer moving to his brain. It’s going to take a long time to get over his death. Molly was so sweet.

She laid on top of me and put her paw and head on my hand. She knew something wasn’t right.

Sox in his prime.

My sister “inherited” Sox as a kitten when her grandchildren got him from one of my sister’s neighbors, but were unable to keep him. Like me, she wasn’t a cat person till she got one. We always had dogs when we were little, then no pets till we were older and closer to retirement or retired. Sox was her first kitty.

Sox was an only kitty most of his life. Then my sister had to move. The first day she moved into her new home, she let Sox out to do kitty business, as was their habit from their old home.

That was the last time she saw him for 10 months, a story that I documented here as encouragement to others who lost their kitties. My sister never gave up, and she finally located poor Sox in a shelter!

Molly Moon looks like a sweetheart to me, and my sister says she is a sweet-dispositioned kitty, too.

When Sox disappeared, my sister eventually adopted Molly Moon, who was a bit older than Sox, but is a tuxedo kitty, too.

When Sox returned home, he no longer was the only kitty, and it made adjustment necessary. Molly and Sox eventually became friends and shared my sister without hassles. (Molly, of course, was the top kitty in the home since Sox hadn’t been home to defend his “title” during his absence.)

My sister told me about the tumor and what she had to deal with some time ago, but one hopes against hope for a happy outcome. I didn’t mention it here though anyone who’s followed this blog for any length of time knows the story of Sox and how he was lost then came home.

That story was the “happily ever after” part. Today’s news is the blunt, sad reality. Anyone with kitties, dogs, any creature in their lives knows the joys and laughter they bring, yet always has that other reality at the back of their thoughts: The joy inevitably is followed by the sad reality that those beloved pets are mortal.

Poor Sox. I’ve shed tears for you today. Kathy, I know that you did what was best for Sox, no matter how sad and difficult the task was for you. Hugs and love, sis.

RIP, Sox the tuxedo kitty. Thank you for the joy you brought into my sister’s life.

Post 792: Sox the tuxedo cat up-date…

Remember Sox the tuxedo cat, my sister’s cat that went missing for 10 months? He looked a bit rough at the shelter, as you can imagine after being missing for 10 months. His sleek fur was dirty and a bit ruffled. He needed a good grooming!

BEFORE

AFTER

What Sox looks like in his prime…just wait till his hair grows out again!

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Here’s a bonus photo of Sox in his hidey hole, among some stuffed toys.

Where’s kitty?

Thanks to my sister for sharing her photos with me and telling me about Sox’s adventure! Anyone who’s had a pet go missing can take heart from Sox’s story.

There are examples of cats and dogs showing up after long times and great distances, but they always seem a bit like fairy tale animals until one turns out to be the pet of a family member or yourself.

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Here’s a photo of Sox enjoying some bird watching out the window.

Post 768: Sox adjusts to being home again after being missing for 10 months…

Sox came home to a new companion kitty (Molly) and new circumstances.

According to my sister, “The cats are co-existing, but at a distance. Molly is definitely the dominant one, which surprises me. Sox has actually tried to be friendly to her, but she wants nothing to do with him. He is afraid of her. She is not happy with me either, and avoids me if Sox is in the room. I put Sox in ‘his’ room at night, and Molly is most happy to sleep with me and have me all to herself. Neither cat will touch the other’s food or water. Hopefully, they will eventually tolerate each other enough to be companions when I’m not home.”

Sox had a rough 10 months, and my sister's made an appointment to get him bathe=d and groomed this coming week.

Sox had a rough 10 months as a lost cat…! Poor kitty! He’s lucky my sister never gave up finding him.

My sister wrote, “Here [is a picture] of Sox the day I found him at the animal shelter. His fur looked rough, even after brushing it, but he still is a pretty boy…discolored fur, neglected grooming, and all.”

Poor kitty! He definitely looks like a kitty that was lost 10 months in this shelter photo! My sister made an appointment to get Sox bathed and groomed this week, so he’ll soon look more like he does in this earlier photo of him at their old house.

I asked her to send me an “after” photo, which I know she will since she is proud of her pretty kitties!

For anyone with pets of any sort, it’s hard to imagine what my sister (not to mention Sox!) went through for those 10 months. We are just happy her kitty boy is home again and that he’s safe again from harm.

According to my sister, “Sox already got on the kitchen counter, the table and into a wastepaper basket. No change there.”

Home again!

What about his new kitty sister Molly? My sister sent a current photo of her, too:

Molly is the queen of the house. How long wiill it be before she and Sox are best buddies?

Molly is the queen of the house. How long will it be before she and Sox are best buddies?

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UPDATE ON SOX AND MOLLY/ May 19, 2015

My sister writes: “Thanks for telling Sox’s story in your blog…although the shelter named him ‘Bobert.’ Sox loves playing with his toilet paper toy on the hardwood floors, and has enjoyed playing with all his other little toys too. He wants out all the time, so we need to be careful every time someone comes in or out of the house. Now he gets into Molly’s food, since she has basically a wet food diet. Both cats are very possessive of me, so we have a long way to go for peace in this house. [My grandson] spent the day here yesterday, so neither cat was happy.”

Post 760: Sox is found…!

I left my computer down till after 8:00 pm today. When I looked in my e-mails, I found this one from my Seattle sister:

I was doing my daily search for Sox this morning and saw his picture on the Everett Shelter “cats in custody”. They only hold them for 72 hours before shipping them out to other shelters for adoption. I called them right away and they said to bring pictures and proof that he was mine.

Sox won't share his new favorite toy, and gets growly if you try to get near it...!

Sox before he became lost. (He didn’t want to share his toy…!)

I was lucky because his 72 hours were up today. He was found in Lynnwood quite a few miles from here. He looks pretty rough and needs grooming badly.

He knew me right away and couldn’t give me enough head butts. He had been gone almost 10 months, and I can’t believe I got him back. A miracle!

Now my challenge is to keep him inside and introduce him to Molly. I hope they get along OK.

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My sister missed Sox, then eventually got herself a shelter cat named Molly. Molly is a tuxedo kitty like Sox.

Remember this early photo of Molly, taken shortly after she joined the family? So much for fears she might not adjust to her new setting!

Molly quickly adjusted to living with my sister. Now she has to adjust to having a cat “brother”, too.

My sister, though, never gave up hope Sox might show up some day. She checked regional shelter websites daily for her lost Sox.

Today Sox is home again, and I join my sister in rejoicing that her kitty is alive and well after this long absence!

If there is a lesson here, it is don’t give up hope.

Post 524: Sox and Molly

My sister sent me this photo, showing her new cat Molly with Sox’s photo as a screensaver on her monitor.

Sox and Molly

I have to admit, it brought a tear or two. I remember and miss Louie the ginger cat every day, so I know how my sister feels having lost Sox. She hasn’t given up hope he might show up again some day.

This one is the day Louie had an epiphany: The bottom part of his lair barfs water! He was very, very alarmed!

Good old Louie! I have this photo enlarged and hanging on the wall behind my computer. It makes me smile, and reminds me what a super cat Louie was.

Andy rearranged the photo in the frame. I decided to leave it as is because living with cats is to accept a little chaos!

Post 512: Molly Moon and other matters…

My sister e-mailed this message to me this morning:

“I was amazed at the number of posts you received on Molly Moon and Sox and I appreciate all of them. I will never give up on finding Sox, but Molly provides some distraction from thinking and worrying about him 24 hours a day.”

Thanks to you who commented! Oh, and it turns out there is an ice cream chain on the West Coast called “Molly Moon’s Homemade Ice Cream” shop. My sister’s grandkids knew about it, and let my sister know about the name.

🙂

It’s official. I just passed my fifth year as a volunteer with the RSVP program in my community. Though I’m not much for awards because I never know what to do with certificates, pins, and the like, I appreciate being appreciated. If being appreciated involves a certificate and a pion, well, I can deal with it! Here’s the pin:

I guess I posted that in a size large enough to see…! I mostly volunteer once a week at the local military museum. Though I also drive veterans to VA clinic appointments, that’s more occasional since there are other ways for these people to get to appointments.

Post 511: Molly Moon

My sister’s cat Sox went missing the morning after she moved to a new house. She let him out in the morning, the habit he was in, and he hasn’t been seen since.

It is difficult writing about his absence, more so because my sister reads my blog and she still misses her Kitty Boy very much. She had him from kittenhood. We all hope and pray he shows up some day or that some family took him in and he’s getting the love and care he was used to with my sister.

Sox, still missing in Seattle.

My sister, family, and friends did all the usual to try to find Sox: posters posted, walks through both the new and old neighborhoods, talking with new and old neighbors, notice given to area shelters, check up with shelters daily for any news and to view possible cats brought in.

At some point, my sister decided she needed another cat. Not to replace Sox, who is irreplaceable, but as a companion for Sox should he show up. And as a kitty for my sister regardless of the outcome with Sox: She missed having a kitty around the house.

She decided to adopt an older cat, checked out possible “candidates” available at shelters, and sent me photos of some of those she felt would do well with her. Then I received an e-mail this morning that she’d adopted one named Molly Moon, a name my sister says her new Kitty Girl will continue to go by.

Molly Moon!

Welcome to the family, Molly, and thank you for helping lift some of the burden my sister feels about Sox.

Molly Moon looks like a sweetheart to me, and my sister says she is a sweet dispositioned kitty, too.

I’m proud of my sister for adopting a shelter animal, too. Not only did she give a cat a new home, she gave an older cat a new home. Everyone wants the kitties, but it takes real love of creatures to take an older one home. Molly Moon is eight years old, mellow, and very affectionate. The photo shows she is adapting quickly to her new life. That’s a happy, confident cat in the photo!

Post 439: time to go

It’s been fun having all of my siblings here for a visit at the same time, but the end of visits must begin. Today, the first of my sisters leaves. She flies to the West Coast this afternoon. My other sister, who has to leave herself in a few days, is treating us all to lunch, then we all load up the buggy (as we say in Western Nebraska…!) and take her to the airport.

The cat brothers will especially miss all the added playtime my siblings give them. Lots of pets in my family, so the boys are an appreciated part of the visit, I think. I know my sister can’t wait to see her cat Sox later today when she arrives home.

Sox didn’t want to share his toilet paper tube toy that day…! He growled, but later “apologised” to my sister for his faux pas.

Of course, I understand what it’s like to miss my cats when I’m gone for even a few hours, so it’s hard to imagine leaving a pet for a week or longer.

Sox recently had a grooming session, and we all were surprised he looked like this with his shorter hair! He’s a beautiful cat either way, but I think we all like him in full tuxedo cat splendor. His white chest is especially beautiful.

Of course, it’s only fair to show Sox in his full glory in this favorite photo of him my sister e-mailed me some time ago. Sox is one handsome kitty! His hair’s growing back, too, so don’t feel sorry for him! Cat hair grows very fast.

Cat-cousin Sox, a real fox!

Here I go again. What started out as a post about my sister leaving turned into another cat post! Speaking of which, she took several photos of my boys while here, and I can’t wait to get the e-mail she promised me with those photos attached. We tried to download them onto my computer from her camera, but ran into a technical snag. They are very good photos — I viewed them in her camera, of course — and they capture the personalities of Andy and Dougy quite well!

Post 394: the two faces of Sox

My Seattle sister Kathy e-mailed me a couple new photos of Sox the tuxedo cat, the boy’s Seattle cat cousin.

A while back I sent my sister something I found on homemade cat toys. She tried one that converted a toilet paper tube into a – well, look at the bottom of the first photo of Sox:

Sox won’t share his new favorite toy, and gets growly if you try to get near it…!

That isn’t to say Sox isn’t a good boy, though.

“Nice kitty says I’m sorry”, my sister captioned this photo!

I know how it goes, Sox. I tend to get growly when people don’t respect my space, but always feel bad when I bite their head off just because.

Post 354: Sox’s new toy

This is a lazy day post because I have several things to take care of outside the house today.

The boys have their semi-monthly day at the “cat spa”, where they’ll be washed, trimmed, and turned into pretty boys for a short time before their normal cat activities muss up the froufrou their groomers work so hard to do. Yes, they will look like normal cats minutes after I bring them home!

I talk with my financial advisor a bit later this morning. I’m doing OK in this matter, so don’t have to fight my cats for food yet. 😉

Then, I’ll spend the afternoon at the military museum.

What I have to give you today, though, is a photo of my boys’ cat-cousin Sox (my Seattle sister’s boy) with his cat lounger and a new favorite toy, a toilet paper tube cut on the ends to… well, you can see it in the photo! Sox is one handsome boy, eh?!

Cat-cousin Sox stalks the toilet paper tube critter…

He’s a tuxedo cat, something you can’t tell in the photo, and is a particularly beautiful example of that type of cat. I don’t say that because he’s my cat-nephew. It’s just the truth! Hey, here’s a second photo of Sox: