George
1991 – 2010
George was our sweet, old boy who passed on Tuesday, February 16. We made that difficult decision to help him along to kitty heaven with the help of Home to Heaven, allowing him to be in the comfort of his own home on his last day. He passed peacefully lying in my lap.
Since we don’t have children, George (and the other 3 cats we had) became our children. We got George as an 8-week-old kitten in September of 1991. I remember when his veterinarian weighed him the first time and called him “kilo kitty” since he weighed 2.2 pounds. That didn’t last long and he topped out at 16.4 pounds. (He weighed 7 pounds when he passed last week.) We also came up with other pet names for him. I think he thought it rather undignified when I called him “George Porge, Sweet Pea, Honey Bunny, Baby Cat” (all at once!).
Like all cats, George had his own, unique personality. When we first brought him home, he startled us and our other cats by making an uncharacteristic cat noise (think of the noise Fred Flintstone’s Dino made). He continued to make that noise for many years. During his last month, he took to licking concrete steps and rocks. Not sure why, but it seemed to be his main purpose everyday…even when it was freezing outside. He would hobble over to the door, across the deck and start licking the concrete step.
George was not without some medical problems in his lifetime, but handled them all so well. He was a fighter enduring some major surgeries including the removal of a bladder stone in 2002 and the removal of his colon in September of 2009. The latter was a drastic and risky surgery at his age of 18+ years but was successful and gave us an additional 5 months with him. Then, the end of January, we found out George had a tumor in his stomach and had lymphoma. He was also dealing with arthritis in his back legs that caused him increased pain and his legs started to give out at times. He just kept pushing himself though. We just made sure he was as comfortable as possible. He especially liked his thermal pads on the couch and on our bed. If similar conditions ever happen to us, we only hope we can handle them as courageously as George.
You gave us so much joy and love. You were our furry, little angel and we miss you terribly…….you are in our hearts forever. We’ll cross the Rainbow Bridge together someday.
Deb & Hoag Baumgartner