Boog My Cat - My Best Friend For 17 years

by Bart
(Grand Rapids, MI)

In 1993 I was single and living alone at age 30. One day I went outside my house and found a small cream colored cat who looked to be only about 3-4 months old. She was friendly and started purring when I petted her. However, I had no intention of becoming a pet owner simply because one showed up outside my door one day.

I saw her again a couple times over the next few days. On Memorial Day weekend I went outside to plant some flowers. A light rain was falling and as I walked around the corner of my garage, I saw that this small cat had climbed a tree to try to stay dry. When she saw me she climbed down out of the tree and came over to me to be petted. She arched her back and rubbed up against me, purring and walking back and forth.

I had thought about that cat several times over the last few days and decided if I saw her again, I would adopt her. I did. We would be together for almost 17 years from that day forward.

Boog was always very friendly and loving with me, but was usually very shy around others. I would get married two years later and Boog and I would move to a new house with my wife and three step-children. She was not a cat that liked to be picked up or held, she liked for you to sit on the floor and pet her. When she wanted to be petted she would come and meow at you to let you know.

She would greet me at the door when I came home from work each day. She was always a good, loyal friend who knew when you needed to be picked up and would come and offer a head butt and purrs.

She loved to play with her furry white mouse. She loved to sit in the window sill during the summer. She loved to scratch her scratching posts. Sometimes she liked to be brushed. She could hear the milk come out of the fridge from anywhere in the house and would come running and would demand to get some. She liked head scratches, chin rubs and when she got older she even liked to have her tummy rubbed.

At the age of 10, in 2003, Boog was diagnosed with diabetes. From then on I would give her injections of insulin twice a day. It took some getting used to for both of us, but after a few months it became a routine that Boog and I were very comfortable with. Treating her condition over the next seven years would bring us closer together than ever. I would be certain to spend time her almost every day. I thought that I would be lucky to have her for at least a few more years. We would both make the most of our time together from then on.

At the age of 14 in 2007, Boog would have recurring UTI problems, caused by her age and diabetes. She even had a couple close calls where her condition was bad enough that I thought that I may have to make the awful decision to put her to sleep. But she would would get better each time and I was ecstatic to keep her with me.

At the age of 17 in January of 2010 Boog was loosing weight and lethargic. This time she was diagnosed with anemia, most probably caused by cancer or another serious condition. Because of her age and her other medical problems, the likelihood of improvement, the quality of life she wold have and sadly even the expense, I decided that it did make sense to pursue more medical treatments for Boog. It was an awful heartbreaking decision and I started crying as I asked the vet how much longer she thought Boog had. She said a few weeks to a few months.

It was just six days later when Boog had stopped eating for two days. She no longer wanted to be petted, she kept wandering around the house and would sit in a "loaf" with a furrowed brow. I now made the next awful decision, that it was time for me to help end Boog's pain and to have her put to sleep.

Boogs passing has left me with a broken heart. Now, about two months later I am beginning to feel better. I know that I was very lucky to have my friend for 17 years. She lived a fantastic, wonderful life for a cat. She enriched my life in so many ways that it is hard to imagine what my life would have been like without her. Thank you Boog for being my best friend for 17 years.


Comment by Kate (site owner)
What a wonderful story, thank you so much for sharing it with us.

It is sometimes hard to express just what these little furry creatures mean to us in our lives and I'm sure many would think us silly. But when as you know you have that special relationship, it really is a true love and something which is mourned when lost. When we lost little mo last year my heart broke too and the pain we felt was unbelievable.

They will always remain with us in our hearts.

Thank you again for sharing your story.

They always live on in our heart
by: Rachel

that was one of the most lovely story i have heard it made me cry, you are very lucky to of had such a loving cat and it sounds that you was meant to find each other :-)

and just like losing a family member it hurts but just remember that you was that cats best friend to and much more

I lost my dog I had since i was about 7 and he has been dead for 5 years but even now if I talk about him to some one I still well up
u can never replace then but u can remember them and all the things they taught you.

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