Big Boy passed away on June 14, 2016. I was out of town on business, so I was not with him when he passed. He hadn't showed up for breakfast, having spent the night outside, so Cindy went looking for him. She saw him and called his name, but he didn't respond. When she touched him, he was cold to the touch and shaking, so she scooped him up and took him to the vet. The vet ran some blood tests and put him on an I.V. to try and re-hydrate him, to see if he would stabilize.
Cindy called me and told me what was going on. I was about half way between Dodge City, KS, and Oklahoma City at the time, on my way to OKC to catch a plane. I got to OKC, going through the airport routine of checking in the car, riding the shuttle, and going through security. My phone started ringing as I finished up with security.
It was Cindy, telling me that Big Boy had passed.
In December, 2008, in the wake of Hurricane Ike, I had a heart attack. I spent 10 days in the ICU, where I had two stints installed. After being discharged, I was sent home to recover.
The hurricane had stirred things up in our neighborhood and we had a bad rodent problem. We decided that we needed a cat to keep the squirrels and mice away from our property. So we went to PetCo, where the rescue folks were doing their thing.
I told them I wanted the meanest, baddest, tomcat they had.
They sent me to Chris, who said she had the perfect cat. But if we took Big Boy, then we'd have to take his girlfriend, Baby Girl.
Big Boy and Baby Girl lived on Galveston Island. If you go to the beach, and take the 61st street exit off I-45, you may remember where the old HEB was located. Across the street from the HEB was a Popeye's Fried Chicken. Big Boy and Baby Girl lived behind the Popeye's, under a shed behind some guy's house. They are both feral cats, as you can see from the notches in their ears, indicating that they had been captured, fixed, and released. Normally you leave ferals alone, so as to control the cat population (since they're fixed). But after Ike, Galveston was a mess. The rescue folks were trying to remove as many animals from the island as they could.
So Chris captured Big Boy and Baby Girl for us. We brought them home and they promptly escaped. We didn't know if they would come back, or what.
Two weeks after they disappeared, they showed back up on our front porch. The weather was good, so we had the windows open and saw Baby Girl walk past in the flower beds.
To make a long story short, I sat on the porch with them, slowly making friends and offering them food. It took a couple more weeks before they'd trust us and come inside.
While Baby was skittish, and wouldn't let anyone but me touch her, Big Boy was friendly and wanted to be petted by anyone and everyone. Neither one of them are lap cats, but Big Boy always craved attention.
They never gave up being feral. Whenever the weather was good, they'd want to be outside, staying out all night. Showing up the next morning for breakfast, then going back out.
In the past few months, Big Boy started slowing down. We never knew for sure how old he was, but I think he was about fifteen or sixteen. They say ferals only live about 10 years, compared to house cats. If that's true, then I guess he beat the odds.
I miss him quite a bit. Every time I turn to the cat bed to pet him, he's not there.
Baby Girl misses him really bad. As he started slowing down, she'd keep a closer eye on him. If he was laying on the warm bricks on the porch, one of his favorite spots, she'd go over and sniff him and give him a lick, then lay down beside him. Almost as if they were spooning.
Since he passed, she's stayed mostly on my desk. She's taken to laying down on my mouse pad or my mouse. Or on top of my hand. I hope she's going to be okay.
He'd been going out less and less, hiding under our bed, or behind the couch in the living room. The vet did a test on him after he passed and found out his spleen was filled with cancer. I guess it all just finally caught up with him.
Rest in peace, buddy. I'll take care of Baby Girl for you. We both miss you a lot.
Thanks for reading!
Dave
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