Two little furballs. One orange and white striped. The other, striped gray, brown, and white. The ywere the cutest things that I ever did see. Two little things that I never knew I needed. I named the orange and white striped, “Thai,” because I had Thai food the same night he arrived. The gray, brown, and white striped furball already had a name. Her name was “Bella.” The word, “Bella” is Italian and translates as the word beautiful. I thought the name suited her perfectly!
It was October of 2006 when Thai and Bella came into my life. I received both of them as a birthday gift on my 23rd birthday. During this time, I was living on my own, in my own apartment, going on 2 years. I was still navigating the waters on living on my own with a physical disability, and doing it from a power chair. Even though I was living on my own independently for almost 2 years, I was still very nervous. Especially because I had a roommate who had just moved out a month prior. So I was technically alone, minus the CNAs that came once in the morning and once at night to help me with my ADLs. So having two little furball kittens for company was a welcomed distraction!
Thai and Bella would learn quickly that their new “Momma”, (me), would not be able to come to them and pick them up whenever they meowed. Instead, they would have to come to her. And learn quickly they did! About the second or third night that they were with me, I was already in bed. I had the TV on, just staring at it, when I heard the little “meows”coming from the hallway. I started to click my tongue repeatedly, as a mother would, when she picked up her crying baby, letting them know I was here for them. A couple of seconds later, I heard the meows in my bedroom! I click my tongue a few more times, and encouraged them with a “come here.” And soon after that, I heard little meows coming toward my bed! Thai and Bella started climbing up my blanket, like little soldiers! When Bella made it to the top of the bed, all she wanted was a comfy spot to go to sleep. When Thai got to the top of the bed, he decided to meow at me and explore my face, sitting right in the middle of my face! He then decided to cuddle up against my neck… and the rest, as they say, was history!
In the Fall of 2008, I enrolled in the Paralegal Studies Program at the Community College. I attended classes Monday through Thursday mornings and would return home later in the late afternoons. I loved coming home. I knew that Thai and Bella would be there to greet me! I would come home, and go straight to the bedroom, and so would Thai and Bella, as they followed right behind me, or sometimes run straight ahead of me and onto the bed! They knew that the bed was where I could put my backpack down, and start petting them. All I had to do was park my chair in front of my bed, stick my arm out, and they both ran back and forth, as my hand rubbed against their fur. They would both take turns rubbing up against my hand, and a lot of the time, head-butting their head against my hand. After a few minutes of attention, Bella would be done. She would lay down somewhere on the bed, and go to sleep. Meanwhile, Thai wasn’t finished greeting me. Once I stopped petting, I would start my power chair and head toward my desk in my bedroom, where my laptop was. When I would start to move my power chair away from the bed, Thai would leap onto my power chair armrest, say “meow” to me, and I would continue my journey towards my desk, with him sitting on the armrest, almost as if he was my co-pilot! Once we reached my desk, Thai would walk off of my arm rest, and step on to the desk. (As if I had docked a boat, in order for him to get on dry land!) Then, I would attempt to open my laptop, turn it on and check my emails, and start doing my assignments. Thai would always want more attention as I did this. He would walk back and forth on my laptop keyboard, meowing at me, demanding that I pet him more. I would always give in, and pet him as he walked back and forth on my keyboard, with his fluffy, striped tail, pointed upward, with the top of the tail curved like a question mark symbol. . He would also take his whiskers, side of his mouth, and nose and rub them on the very outer edge of one of the corners of my laptop screen. After a few minutes, he would finally tire out, and find a comfortable spot to sleep. Only then, was I able to focus on what I was previously going to do on my laptop!
Thai quickly assumed the “boyfriend” role in my life. He was somewhat protective of who came around me, especially if they were male. With that being said, in 2008, Jason, my boyfriend of two years, (who is now my husband) decided to come to Durham and stay with me in my apartment. This meant that Thai had to work twice as hard to make sure I knew he was my “number one guy”! 😼 Although, with a few belly rubs, and pettings from the boyfriend, and Thai was like putty in his hands. Bella was also happy that there was another male presence in the home. She quickly took up with my boyfriend, and she quickly became a “daddy’s girl.”
We ended up becoming like a little family. We even ended up adopting a stray kitten that my boyfriend and I found at my apartment complex’s dumpster area! Since we found him in the dumpster area, we decided to go with the name, “Oscar” after “Oscar The Grouch” from the children’s show, “Sesame Street.” He was covered in short, black fur; except for the couple of white patches of fur he had on his belly and chest.
Thai and Bella were unsure about the new edition to the family, but the longer Oscar stayed with us, my two Tabby furballs got used to him, and realized he was part of the family. Oscar’s favorite activity was being at the food bowl! We called Oscar our little “foodie.”
Oscar learned to adapt to my disability fairly well. He didn’t come to me as Bella and Thai did in their kitten stages. Every night before I went to sleep, Oscar would jump on bed and come walking up toward the head of the bed, where I could hear him purring, and he would lay with me for a little bit, and let me pet him. It was his way of tucking me in, and telling me good night. However he did it, I knew that he loved me, and I loved him.
May of 2018 was a sad day for all of us. Unfortunately, Oscar became sick. He was unable to move. Jason and I were trying our best to moderate his food intake as much as possible, prior to him becoming ill. On the day of Oscar’s passing, we attempted to take him to the emergency vet, but there was nothing that the vets could do. We had to say goodbye to Oscar on that same day. It was a shock to us all. Jason and I could both tell that Thai and Bella were confused and for a few days, they tried to find Oscar around the apartment. We could tell that they were both going through their own bouts of grief. .
Then, in the beginning of October2019, I had to say goodbye to my orange and white striped furball, Thai. He developed a cancerous tumor inside of his mouth that went undetected. About a month before, I had noticed that Thai was developing thick saliva, and I was worried about it. I was trying to see if it was treatable by giving dental treats. I was doing some googling, and I thought it might have been due to gum disease. But unfortunately, I was very wrong. The veterinarian that saw Thai let us know that there was nothing that could be done for him. Even if we had detected it early and tried to treat it. The cancer in his mouth had a 90% chance of returning. Jason came home with Thai from the Vet office, and had to break the bad news to me. That I had to say goodbye to “my number one guy,” my “co-pilot,” and my first male, as a best friend… who just happened to have orange and white striped fur all over. The veterinarian scheduled the euthanization for the very next day. Jason told the vet that he knew that I would want to be there, for Thai’s last moments. That next day, I was able to hold him on my lap one last time, while he peacefully went to sleep, and didn’t have to struggle anymore. Amongst my sobbing, I said to Jason, right after they took Thai from my arms, that this was the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do.
CP has nothing on losing your best, (furry) friend.
