In Honor of our great cat CJ

You know the day will come.  Nothing that a person looks forward to, but it always come.  Your beloved animal that has been a part of your life for a very long time has reached the end of their life. 
Today, was that day for our cat CJ. 

Anyone that has ever been to our house, would have met CJ.  He was just one of those types of cats.  He was the greeter.  He didn't care if you liked cats or not, he liked you. 

CJ's life started with us in 1995.  There was a little farm store in Yukon, and they had pets, and animal food etc. The store was called Lovable Critters.   We were with the boys and stopped in one day.  The boys spotted these kittens.  Well, you know the rest of that story.  Heck we had 1 cat, why not 2!!! 

As the story goes, the boys named him CJ...thinking it stood for Critter Jasmin.  Named after the store kinda.  Well, low and behold when we took CJ to the vet, Dr. Holmes informed us that CJ was a guy!  OH MY~~  Never had a "boy" cat before, but he would be fixed and all would be good in our world. 

I had no idea how little boy cats liked to go outside.  I never had a cat that even wanted to think about it.  In the middle of the night, CJ would meow to his highest level.  About drove us all crazy....well, at least it did Chuck and I.  The boys could sleep through anything.  One morning I woke up and told Chuck I had the best sleep I had in months, and wondered why CJ hadn't meowed all night.  He said he had no idea, and went about our morning.  I started looking for CJ and could hear him meowing and it sounded like he was outside.  Opening the front door, guess who was standing there...CJ!!!!  Chuck just grinned, and told me he had put him outside the night before. 

From that day on, CJ became our indoor, outdoor cat.  He was such a good cat.  Big and beautiful.  He was pretty independent, and knew his boundaries in the neighborhood.  He loved our dogs, but knew to stay away from the ones he didn't know. 

CJ was the typical crazy cat.  He loved Christmas.  Heck, the Christmas tree was for him, wasn't it!!   He found his way up to the middle of the tree, and there he would sit.  He only did that one year, but he always loved to sit under the tree.  I guess he thought he was outside.  LOL 

Fast forward to 2003.  We move to the "country".....I worried about CJ and the move.  He was great.  As long as his dog sisters, and brother was with him, all was good in the world. 

The country living brought a new world into view for CJ.  He adorned us with small snakes, moles, and baby rabbits.  He thought it was so exciting to bring them to us.  He adapted to the country life quite well. 

I am so glad he was able to live out his wonderful 18 yrs of life as a happy and content cat.  He had really started to slow down the last couple of years, and had become my buddy in the evenings, sitting next to me in my chair.  He was kind of a chair hog, as he wanted to lay as close to me as he could. 

He slipped away rather quickly.  He was showing age, as he liked to sleep all day, but what cat doesn't.  He didn't greet people when they came over.  The last week we noticed he wasn't eating very much.  His back legs were getting very weak.  His hind quarters were sinking in.  We knew his time was near, and last night, he gave me reason to decide to take him and have him put down. 

I feel so bad to have to have an animal put down, but he was not able to get around.  He was lost and confused, and acted as if he had gone blind.  He would just sit and look around like he wasn't even sure where he was at.  Last night I closed him in the utility room so he would be safe, and this morning with a very heavy heart I took him to our vet and asked them to put him out of his misery.  He was down to 8 lbs. and was just a skeleton of the cat he once was. 

So is the life and times of CJ....our wonderful cat.  I think we are through with any new animals in this house.  This is just too painful. 

I know that CJ is without pain, and living the good life on the other side.  That gives me peace inside, but I will really miss my chair pal.