To my Good Boy, Linus

A photo of my cat, Linus, sitting in a green chair on a blue fuzzy blanket covered in monkeys. Linus is a striped tabby, mostly gray and black with a little brown.
Linus in Repose

This past Sunday, my Linus, my Old Man, my Hot Water Bottle, died. He leaves a little Linus-shaped hole in my life.

Several years ago, Linus was diagnosed with inflamed bowels (possibly cancerous – we never did surgery to check) and had been on prednisolone ever since. Most of the time he was happy and hungry and pooped a lot. But he’d have the occasional “bad belly day” as I would call them. Sometimes lasting a couple of days. But then he’d be back to his usual self.

At his last vet appointment, Linus had lost 2 pounds since his previous annual physical, so the vet gave him a blood test. Everything came back fine except his thyroid. It was overactive. Hence the weight loss. Linus was prescribed a new medication to take each morning and evening. (With 3 pills per day in his pill case, I would be no longer likely to mix up our pill cases when I take my Zyrtec in the morning… OK, so I only did it twice! Once when I was fighting the flu and the other time right after the time change, OK?)

Anyway, it seemed that the medication was helping. He had gained another 0.6lb from his appointment and seemed to be doing OK. But then Friday he was going back to his glum “bad belly day” mood. And Saturday he seemed even worse. Our vet isn’t available on the weekend, but I’d decided I’d call Monday to see if we should cut down the thyroid pill dose. He was due for the 1 month check in tomorrow (Wednesday).

Sunday morning, he seemed better and ate some breakfast. My sister was coming to Troy that day, so I spent the morning and early afternoon with the folks and her. We had a lovely day. Then Amy came to help me take some stuff out of the basement for an upcoming garage sale. Linus & Reesie were crashed out on the sofa. Once Amy left, I joined them for a bit. Reesie seemed as concerned as I was for Linus, who was feeling bonier than he’d ever felt.

Sunday was laundry day, and had been interrupted some by my family visit. So I got another load going and decided the three of us needed to cuddle in the comfy chair. We spent well over an hour together, first me and Linus, and soon the three of us. It was very fine cuddling indeed.

Sadly, I needed to get more laundry shifted, but my goal was to return to cuddling ASAP. But while I was downstairs swapping loads, Linus decided to hop out of the comfy chair and was laying down on the floor in front of it. I dumped the clean laundry on the bed and went in to the library check on him. He laid on his side, spasmed a cou ple of times, and then he was gone. Reesie left the room around that time too – I think she figured out what was going on. I found a shoe box for him (he needed a bigger one that Lucy) and then buried my grief in chores.

A picture of my cat, Linus, sitting in a cat window perch with his back to the camera, but his face toward it. His tongue is out, mid-lick. So, "blep" as they say.
Blep!

I’d texted the family about Linus and they were all lovely and supportive. But I decided I’d bury Linus on my own. (Amy had come over to help me with Lucy’s grave. And damn if I didn’t pick the rootiest place to dig! I picked a much less rooty place for Linus and was done a lot quicker than the pair of us had been. Sorry Amy!) And then I found even more chores to do.

Reesie and I finished up the evening on the sofa together streaming something – either the Eternals or Lovecraft Country – and I consoled myself with a pint of ice cream. Reesie was a wonderful comfort to me, so I thanked Corinne on Monday for bringing her into my life. (And to Linus’ life. I think he stayed around longer because of her.)

I had nearly 18 years with my good boy and most of that time with his sister, Lucy, too. I was very lucky to have found them (thanks Brandi!) and to have them in my life. Thank you for all the cuddles Linus! I’ll miss having you as my hot water bottle at night!

Meet Reesie

Photo of two cats, one tabby, one tortie/fluffy cuddled together with a person's hand reaching over to scritch the belly of the tabby.
Reesie started feeling at home early. Here’s a photo 10 days after she joined us. This moment didn’t last long, but it was early days yet!

After Lucy died in October, Linus and I spent a lot of together time. We became addicted to watching Star Trek spin-offs and Bewitched DVDs. But then one of my coworkers mentioned to me that there was a sweet little kitty who kept visiting her home. But the two outdoor cats didn’t like her, and her Grandma said there were already too many indoor cats (there were four between my coworker and her Grandma). So my friend was looking for someone who might be able to take care of Reesie. She thought of me.

We agreed to have Reesie and Linus meet up at her Grandma’s garage on Friday, November 3rd. I brought Linus in his harness, and just on the off-chance that they liked each other enough, I brought one of my cat crates.

As soon as Linus came into the garage, Reesie immediately ran over to him and wanted to meet him. It was love at first sight for Reesie. She thought he was the best cat EVER! (She’s not wrong, you know.) My friend coaxed Reesie into the crate and we took her home for a week’s trial.

Overhead view of two cats sitting side by side on the sofa, one a fluffy tortie and the other a gray and black tabby.
Reesie and Linus in a surprise bonding session on December 2nd.

As I said, Reesie LOVED Linus. But Linus was more or less indifferent to her. So I was a bit worried that her attention might be stressful to him. I made sure to have some alone time with Linus. We’ve taken to sleeping with just the two of us and he can have his Chunky Chicken Entree without her bothering him. (That does mean I feel sorry for Reesie out in the rest of the house alone. But she seems to be OK with it now. Especially as she gets to join me in bed when Linus wakes me up to leave the room in the middle of the night.)

Over Christmas Break, Reesie went in for her neutering. She came out with a Cone of Shame which amused Linus and did not amuse Reesie. However, during her two week recovery time, she and I bonded a lot. Reesie became my TV watching buddy (as Linus avoided her during this time because (a) Cone of Shame and (b) she was getting stinky not being able to groom her backside because of (a)).

Fluffy tortoise-hair cat in a Cone of Shame sitting on the lap of a human (from POV of the human).
Celebrating New Year’s Eve in the Cone of Shame

Two weeks after the surgery, she was free of the cone and the klingons which had been stuck to her fluffy butt. She was THRILLED to be able to groom herself again. And Linus returned to his indifference. She still thought he was the BEST KITTY EVER and still enjoyed TV time with Trina. (She’s sitting on the desk to the left of me right now and watching me as I type this up.)

As the weeks have gone on, Reesie and Linus have become friends and not just UberFan and BestKittyEver. It’s now Big Brother and Annoying Little Sister. Linus still has patience issues with her and I’ve not been successful at getting everyone in the comfy chair together (though we had about an hour this morning when all three of us were kitten piled in the bed). But there are more times than not that I’ve found the pair curled up together in the window seat or the comfy chair or the bed.

Window seat with two cats curled up together on it. Gray-haired tabby asleep and fluiffy tortie resting her head on the tabby's body.
“Ain’t nobody gonna bother my big brother!” (Not the best camera shot, but I had to zoom in to avoid spooking Reesie.)

So, welcome to our home, Reesie! I’m sorry I was late on this update, but I’ve not been in the mood to (a) look for photos and (b) write up a post about Reesie. Today the stars aligned such that I could do so!

Close up of a very fluffy tortoise-hair cat with her paws on the leg of the person taking the photo. Person is petting the cat.
Reesie and me watching TV, Feb 9, 2024.