Oliver

Four years ago, Scott started looking on Petfinder.com for another little kitty. We had our two black kitties, Sophie & Baxter for 2 years at this point and Scott was itching for a little kitten. He came across a little orange and white kitty named Little Ray who happened to be a rescue in our town. We loved that his little ear was folded in the photo.

Scott and I put in an application for him and we soon found out we were accepted. Picking him up was a bit of a hassle. The woman who had these rescue cats  would cancel our appointments and the day we did pick him up, we had to go to two different locations. It was all weird. When we were finally able to see him, he was huddled in the back of his carrier and he looked like he was teeny tiny. I wanted nothing more than to just scoop him up and bring him home. I just felt completely turned off by the woman who we got him and I just wanted to be far away from her.

The car ride home was pretty short. Since we had Sophie & Baxter, we brought Little Ray to our bedroom and kept him there the first day. In the week or so leading up to getting him, we decided to name him Oliver. He just looked like an Oliver. Oliver stayed under our bed for a long time. Eventually he came out.

The next day, we thought it would be best to slowly start to introduce our kitties to the newest kitty. We brought in Sophie because I thought she would be a bit maternal and want to care for him. Sophie wanted nothing to do with him. She was pretty pissed that we brought someone new to the house. Oliver walked right up to her and wanted to be friends. Every time Sophie hissed at him, Oliver just sort of winced but wouldn’t walk away. That’s the way he was – just wanted to be everyone’s friend.

Any time we had guests in our home, we had to warn people. Oliver loved sitting on people’s laps. Our guests would leave our home with a smile on their face and Oliver’s orange fur on their clothes.

When Scott and I brought Oliver to his first vet appointment, we had to discribe his coloring so they could enter that into the computer system. Scott said he was orange and white. The receptionist asked him to be more specific so he said, “He’s orange on top and white on the bottom.”

Oliver had some respiratory problems when we got him. He also never really meowed, only squeaked so we would call him squeaks. He also loved the squeaky toy-sound that a Dyson commercial had in it a few years ago. He’d always come running to the TV when that commercial was on.

Recently, Oliver has gotten really sick. Looking back, it all occured so quickly. He was recently diagnosed with kidney disease. Friday evening, I watched him walk across the living room and…it was slow and not his normal walk. We tried to give him his favorite food. He didn’t eat. Just sat on the bathmat. He didn’t even eat the treats we put in front of him. When Scott decided to bring him to the vet, we just knew.

The vet told Scott that Oliver lost more weight. And he could feel a tumor in his belly. Scott held Oliver as he went to sleep and told him he was such a good kitty. I’m so glad that Scott was there for him in the end.

I keep seeing Oliver in the corner of my eye at the water bowl in the kitchen. I expect to see him each morning coming towards me to say good morning. We just miss him so much.

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