Punky

Yesterday we said goodbye to our cat Punky.  It was unexpected and way too soon. He was only a month shy of 8 years old, and always the third wheel in a house full of dogs.  I’ve never been big on cats, but for a dog person, Punky was the cat to have.

Punky The Cat

A few days ago we took him to the vet where he was diagnosed with Renal Kidney failure.  We gave him a few days, hoping and praying for a miracle, but it he never responded to treatment.  So with our options exhausted, we decided enough was enough.

I met my wife at the clinic, where I opened the door to the small office to find her in the small room kneeled over our old friend.  She looked up as I entered, her eyes brimming with tears as she stoked his chin.

“He’s purring.”

The rest was awful. It’s the worst part of owning a pet, the heartbreak of outliving them. And now our house will be a little gloomier for a while, and as I pack up his food and bowl and treats, I’ll say a prayer for our old friend.  The dogs already seem to be missing him, my wife is in tears.  I'm just glad little Simon is too young to understand.  So here’s to the only cat I’ll ever own.  He was a great one. 

Rest in peace, Punky.

An Ode To A Dog...

*Our dog Mason gets all the attention around here, so I wrote a little something about my buddy Bruce..

I have this dog Bruce. Got him for free when he was a puppy. The lady at the pound guessed him to be three months old at the time. She liked to scratch his chin. He was her favorite. She loved his gentle copper eyes, and her tone flexed when she urged me to bring him back to her if things didn't work out. It’s been almost seven years now, and although his breath sometimes smells like fish, I think it's working out...

He’s a bit slower these days. He tires easier. Some days he has trouble with his hips. The vet recommended glucose pills, like the ones old people take. He prefers them wrapped in a heavy coat of peanut butter. 

Old Bruce naps more than he used to nap, he snores a little louder and has grown a bit softer along the way. But those eyes are the same. Completely honest.  

He was jealous when I met a girl. But her nails were long and she had a dog who became his best friend. The girl moved in and I quickly slid into second place on Bruce's list of likable humans. Everyone was happy for a while. Then the girl's dog got sick and Bruce lost a friend. .

He moped around the house until we got a new dog. The new dog is a maniac. Sometimes I think Bruce prefers the moping.

Now there’s a baby, too. Let's see, a girl, a baby, a dog, a cat. Bruce and I have come a long way. The house is hectic, the walks are shorter. Everyone’s time has been cut and managed. I hold the baby and Bruce watches. So much has changed in the past seven years. But we're still together. 

Sometimes, late in the night or early in the morning, I stumble upon old Brucie and rouse him from a good snore. He looks up to me with those gentle eyes. Eyes that make you forget he ever tried to bite the mailman or shook mud onto a grandma’s dress. I scratch his chin. He begs forgiveness and begs me to love him. Or maybe it's just a treat he wants. 

Either way, he's pretty great. 

Law & Order

An unthinkable crime occurred right under my nose yesterday as a routine thursday evening took a near deadly turn. Changing the bedding in my son's crib, I relocated Morris the Moose from his secure location inside the crib to a temporary holding location, the less secure laundry basket.

In a house full of animals, their stuffed counterparts have to be accounted for at all times because they can vanish, only to be found minutes later on the floor with their limbs scattered and insides strewn. It's ugly and it's terrifying. My job is to prevent it from happening.

Finishing up with the bedding, a foreboding silence fell over the room.  I turned, spinning in fear as I realized what had transpired. I looked under the crib, hoping the moose had taken refuge in the safe confines of darkness.  Nothing, my heart sank as I found only tufts of fur and dust. I had to find the moose.

The stealth nature of the crime took a combination of skill and experience that only a hardened criminal could pull off. Light on his paws and having a rap sheet is as long as his roaming range, my initial inkling was Mason. AKA Blue Eyes, AKA The Pest, AKA Needlenose. I cringed as images of his past victims flashed through my mind. 

*Warning, the images below are graphic by nature and not suitable for young children

DUNG DUNG...

 

The animals above never had a chance. They are brutal reminders of what can happen when one becomes careless. My son is far too young to cope with such loss at this impressionable young age, and I owed it to him to find that moose...

Stepping out of the room, I came face to face with Ole blue eyes in the shadows of the hallway. With his ears up and head cocked, Morris dangled by an ear from the clutches of ivory teeth. My gut had been right, he’s always had a taste for stuffing, ever since that incident with the pillow as a puppy.  The showdown lasted only mere seconds before I made my move.

I charged after him. He bolted down the hallway into the kitchen, my wife and child turning at the sound of the commotion as I gave chase, He's got the moose, Mason's got the moose!! Mason is as quick as they come and I was no match for his speed. We hurled through the living room, over the couch, and back down the hall, his tail swishing as I caught the glimmer of a tear in the Moose's eye.  It may have been drool, it's tough to say...

Determined to outsmart the family pet, I waited around the corner, peeking to see the moose still hanging from Mason's chops. His paws clicked on the floor as he paced like a wolf in the forest. And then, in a desperate act to save the moose from a certain and torturous death, I lunged, grabbing Mason by his scrawny head and wrestling the moose from his jaws. 

Looking over poor Morris, his ear has a few bites missing but he's expected to make a full recovery. I set him back in the safety of the crib, turning off the light and wiping my brow. Another day, another life saved. Until next time blue eyes...

Busted