Bill the Cat: August 1995 - March 21, 2011

Billy the cat seemed fine last week, but we returned from Alabama yesterday, and bam, he had gone downhill fast. He had a long history of health problems, including once when he almost died from liver problems. He wasn't eating or drinking, and he had obviously lost some weight.

We took him in today, and our vet gave it to us straight: kidney failure. Not anything we could do.

Bill was an old cat. We knew his time would be coming up. But it was so sudden. On the one hand, we were glad he didn't have a long time to suffer. On the other, we didn't have a lot of time to sort our own feelings. Walking out of the vet's office with no Bill in the carrier was so difficult.

When I first moved in with Dave, Bill mainly hung out in the office. His brother was a bit of a meanie, and he would chase Bill out of the living room. I spent many months working with him, coaxing him bit by bit. Eventually, he had freedom to move about the house again. Phil, his brother, wasn't a fan of Billy's new-found independence, but Bill didn't care. He'd find any open window and lay in it for hours. Same with sun. He loved in the tiniest bit of sun on the floor.

Bill was a cuddly kitty. He'd cuddle with anyone. Even his litter mate, who lives with my mother-in-law now. He's the larger and darker of the two in this pictures, the one to the left.

 

When Phil (a rather grumpy cat) went to live in a house all of his own, Bill started cuddling with Simon, our younger cat. This is the most current picture of him we have.

He would dry to cuddle with anyone, even if he didn't know them well. He'd try to sleep with whomever slept on the fold out couch, including my mother. Bill just loved to curl up and cuddle, even with a chair.

But he wasn't a fan of being picked up. He'd go all stiff, stare at the floor, and howl his displeasure.

He could be so goofy. The water bowl had to be kept a good ways from the dry food because he'd try to dip the dry food in the water. So weird. He loved to lay and stretch out his little paws. The pic below looks like he's saying, "Pet meee!" Or "Feeeed me!" Or "I will eat your sooooul!"

String was his favorite toy; he liked a good bout with a laser pointer, but string drove him nutso. He also loved to play with Simon before he got to where he didn't want to move around much. When he got really fat after his liver disease, he would back his butt up to Simon and sit on him. Once he could move around more and lost some weight, he would raise his front paws up and body-slam Simon. We'd get so tickled watching this giant cat. 

He was just a big ol' cat. Super fluffy. You could brush him and brush him, and hair would still come out. I loved how much he loved to be pet and brushed. He especially loved being patted on the butt, right above his tail. If you patted it just right, he would topple over with pleasure onto the carpet. I loved that.

RIP, Billy-billy. I miss you already.