So here goes: we lost Ferris in June. He'd been right as rain for ten months, then we found a little nodule on the side of his throat. We biopsied it and discovered it was an extremely rare form of cancer. We made plans for surgery to remove it, but Ferris didn't make it that long. He stopped eating a few days after we made the appointment and when we rushed him to the emergency vet, it turned out he had so many life-threatening things going on at once that I don't even have the energy to go into all of it here, even two months later. Suffice it to say it was a devastating blow to all of us, including the dozens of customers who looked forward to visiting the store for the express purpose of loving on that sweet boy.
Rest in peace, dear Ferris. You'll never fully know how much you were loved in just ten short months, but I hope you were able to feel it the whole time. I think you did. And that's all I can really say about that.
I wrote a long eulogy for him that I had to send out as an email to all our customers letting them know what happened, and it took everything I had to write it. It's also available on our Facebook page for our store if you're interested. I just don't have it in me right now to go into that much detail again here.
We resisted getting another shop cat, but had constant requests from customers to please start looking. We knew we could never "replace" Ferris, because life just doesn't work that way. Ferris was one of a kind, and there was no chance of replacing him. We did hope to find a couple of beautiful beings who could bring life and a special spark to the store in their own right. As it turned out, these two cuties pretty much picked us:
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| Maynard (named for Maynard Krebs from Dobie Gillis) |
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| Stella |
Maynard picked me by jumping in my lap while I was interacting with another cat, and Stella picked Sean by following him around the cat room insisting on attention while he tried to meet all the cats. And that, pretty much, was that.
They're truly awesome cats. It turns out that Maynard is something called a Japanese Bobtail, which we'd never heard of before we adopted him. A friend visiting the store was nice enough to let us know that's what he is, and when we looked it up, he fit the description perfectly. (I may not have mentioned that Maynard has no tail.) Stella, for her part, has that remarkable dual-sided facial marking that is not only striking, it's just beautiful on her. Both cats are outgoing, friendly, laid-back, and seem perfectly suited for store-living. Stella has discovered an addiction to watching birds on our television, and Maynard thinks chasing bouncy balls down our "bowling-alley-shaped" store is more fun than a barrel of monkeys. Stella favors holding court on a big stack of safflower seed while Maynard likes to give me a heart attack by doing zoomies towards the front of the store just as a customer is walking in. We're all keeping a sharp eye on him right now because The Outside is an enticing place to be, and we'd rather him not pull a Cooper on us.
Because I've never hesitated to let my crazy flag fly before on this blog, I may as well mention that I bought a security/cat-cam system for the store. And a cot. I just figured that I might want to keep tabs on how they're doing when I can't be there, since this pair sleeps at the store at night. And one night, so did I.
It was a holiday eve (Labor Day) and I couldn't stand the fact that they'd be by themselves so much on Monday, so Sunday night I slept with them on the cot I bought. Maynard was a champion under-the-covers snuggler. He jumped right up on the cot and was under the covers before I'd even changed into my jammies. And he made contact with me under the covers with his paw or head all night long. Stella joined in around 3:45am, but she snuggled near my head.
Best. Slumber party. EVER.
The good news (?!?) is that we may get a lot more chances to snuggle. (Okay, that was sarcasm, in case you couldn't tell. This is the Hurricane part.)
So...Florence. Yay. We're looking at landfall (and potentially another direct hit, this time from a strong Cat 4 instead of a Cat 1) inside of a week. I've already made reservations inland. Two rooms, which we'll really need to have with four home cats and two shop cats. Cooper is already looking forward to his vacation and I think I've caught him trying to pack our bags with some toys. You have to appreciate his verve. Zelda didn't love our forced Hurricane Matthew vacation last time, but she didn't flip out either.
Coco and Lionel might be another story. The two of them have been having "turf wars" lately, and I seem to be the turf. Coco has claimed me in the name of the Queen (also Coco), and by default has also claimed our bed and most of the bedroom. Lionel, who sleeps on a tall standing jewelry box in the corner, has been attacked now on countless occasions when he has had the audacity to try to get on the bed to get some attention. Coco even guards him from the floor when he's on top of the jewelry box, silently daring him to jump down and meet her challenge. It's a bit intimidating actually. And it will be interesting to see how the dynamics change when the entire venue of the "turf" gets turned upside down.
So, there you have it. Not much going on around here...nope. Just another crazy day in paradise.
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| Rest in Peace, Sweet Ferris. We'll always love you. |
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