More on Our Lemon Kitty

As I mentioned earlier, I never really thought of myself as a cat person.  Most of the people at work tend to be dog people too.  I guess I can agree with them with respect to most cats---the stereotypical cat kind of keeps to themselves, but Snowshoes are different.  When we were looking for cats, we definitely met some cats who displayed stereotypical cat behavior.  They acted pretty standoff-ish, didn't like to be held or touched for very long, or even hissed at us when they got mad.  Our lemon kitty Marquis, however, has never made an aggressive move towards us.  He's always been very sweet and loving.  We joked that he was raised by dogs but had the advantage of knowing how to use a litter box. 

He would do things that are pretty unusual for cats.  We didn't let him sleep with us since my wife has some slight cat allergies, but he would come up and wait patiently by the bedroom door each morning to welcome us.  He used to come down to the door and greet us when we came home from work every day.  His favorite activity was running up to us and then flopping over for a belly rub and then twist and turn.  He was a licker---he would grab our hands to rub his face and lick it all over.  He could do this for hours if you let him.  He was a pretty lazy cat and didn't even show any interest in laser pointers or other cat toys.  He would just sit on or next to us the rest of the night, occasionally grabbing our hands for a belly rub.

He was sweet tempered enough that he would sit quietly when we trimmed his claws (he had six toes on each foot).  We could even wash him in the shower and he wouldn't complain.  If he got sad or upset, he wouldn't strike out---instead, he would go and sit in the corner until we came to pet him.  Once he got diagnosed with chronic renal failure over a year ago, we were able to subcutaneously inject him with 50 mL of saline daily to keep him hydrated and he didn't complain.  I don't know if we would be able to do that with most cats.

He's so sick and weak now that he barely has energy to move.  He can only walk with a slight limp to the litter box.  But whenever he sees us for the first time in the morning or when we come home from work, he still has enough energy to grab our hands and rub his face over them.  Now he can only last for a couple of minutes, but you can tell that's what he's been saving his energy for.  It's what he lives for---even in the end, all he wants is to be with us.

As weak as he is now, he still has enough energy to grab our hands for a good rub.