Our poor little Taz left us on Monday. She never quite recovered from her surgery earlier this year and weighed less than five pounds in her last week. Although she still liked cuddling up with us at night we had to check repeatedly to make sure she was still breathing. Tony and I had many discussions about how we would know if was the right time to help her on her journey. I know that we made the correct decision.
Our other departed kitty, Otis (oy, what a couple of months it has been) had been gaining weight so ten years ago we thought we would get her a friend. We adopted Taz from the Humane Society and realized quite quickly that Otis wanted nothing to do with her. Best laid plans, huh?
When we adopted Taz she was skin and bones and her previous owners had given her up because they could not afford the vet bills. We found that she was food obsessed. We had to lock Otis in another room so that Taz would not eat all of the food. Tazo Marie bloomed to a very heavy 13 pounds and was on a low-carb diet (which we named “Catkins”).
Taz (or Tazo, Tazo-Tea) was always “little.” Even though she was seven when she came to live with us she seemed like a kitten. She loved to chase yarn and steal rubber bands. But most of all, she LOVED people. She needed to be in someone’s lap at all times, and that person was usually Tony.
Taz and Tony had a special bond. He was very gentle with her (unlike the rough-housing that Otis and I participated in) and she followed him everywhere. Tony had always wanted a “fireplace kitty” (a cat who would curl up in front of the fireplace with him) and that was Tazo. Many times I would come home with groceries, expecting help carrying them in, only to find Tony stuck in a chair with a sleeping kitty on his lap.
The only bad habit that Taz had was her incessant meowing—usually at 4:30 in the morning—trying to get her “people” up to feed her. Her meow was like the way Laura Petrie said, “Ohhhhh, Roooooobbbb,” on the Dick Van Dyke show. Man, she could howl.
Tazo, you were a very good kitty and we miss you tremendously.
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