# Slugger 1999-2011



## Charley Sullivan (Jan 16, 2012)

My wife and I adopted Slugger in 1999. I did it mainly to cheer her up after a round of the blues. 

At the animal shelter we were looking at the many kittens and I was hoping to find a male as we already had 2 females. 

..And there he was sitting on the top of one of those little scratching posts. There could only be one there at a time and of course he was the one we made eye contact and I knew. 

Never really a pet person but use to cats I did not think much of the implications as I was 12 years younger at 36 than I am now at 48. Who would know we would have him 12 years. At first he would get on my nerves at nuzzling on my wife's ears in the bed and moving about and I would just grab his little body and gently drop him off the side of the bed. I remember when he was little I would be sitting in the chair and he would be up on the arm and I would be petting him and he would look so proud and happy but I would have to be careful not to knock him over while petting him because he was so small. The female cats did not take to him but he didn't care just like me he willed his way into their hearts. He would tackle them and jump over them and just be a general nuisance. 

He did not stay little long he grew to be a very strong active 13# cat. A year after we got him we had bought a house and we beleive in letting them outside. He would tightrope his way around the rails on the privacy fence and he would get out of the yard and I would fuss at him but he would not let me stay mad. He loved to play "string" especially on the living room floor. He would get so excited and get to going so fast he would chase it around in a circle and when I stopped he would pick it and proudly carry it off like he had defeated it. 

Over the years I fell in love with that cat I bought him the best food wet and dry and I learned to let him be who is was. I told my wife it was like we were on the same wave length. We were very tight. To set with him on the patio on a lazy summer day was almost a spiritual experience. I would be mowing the grass out back and I would say "watch out Slugger" and he would move or "its okay buddy" and he would stay where he was at. 

He would sit on my lap alot when I was watching a game and he eventually got where he would sleep with us almost every night. As a matter of fact my wife Leslie would kiss his paws at night and he got where he would put his paws on her face and she called it playing "patty face" and they did it almost every night. It seemed we had all grown much closer in the last year or two.

Slugger had had few problems over the years. A paw laceration, surgery for benign cysts on his back and he had a kidney removed about 5-6 years ago. Threw it all he was still a pretty healthy sturdy cat.

I always had a collar on him that had the jingle bell on it and over the years I loved to hear those jingle bells. 

Ironically Christmas night was the last time I heard those bells. We started treating him on 12/13. Our vet thought he might have a parasitic infection over the next couple of weeks and a couple of different meds he was not improving. Ultrasounds showed nothing (no masses) but an increased spleen, we also knew he had a UTI and he was slightly anemic. On 12/13 I thought we would get him treated and he would be fine but by Christmas eve he could hardly stand up and after getting home on after getting home from my mom's Christmas night he was still in the basket we had left him in that morning and he was meowing loudly. We went straight to the animal hospital and as soon as we got there he was in respiratory distress. We had to make the decision and the vet was going to let us a have a few minutes with him but the next thing we knew he had a seizure and she had to put him to sleep. It was awful 

It almost seems unreal I cannot believe he is gone. I miss him so. I have been very depressed but know I have to let him go. I found this site just so I could share with people who understand. I will remember him everyday for the rest of my life and I have faith that we will meet again one day. I told Leslie that I now feel honored to have him as a cat and to have him love me like he did.

I will never have another cat with a jingle bell on the collar. 
URL=http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/9/slugger.png/]







[/URL]


----------



## Charley Sullivan (Jan 16, 2012)




----------



## RachandNito (Nov 21, 2008)

Oh my... he was so very handsome. That was a wonderful tribute to Slugger, I had tears in my eyes as I read it.


----------



## Susan (Mar 29, 2010)

What a lovely tribute to a very handsome cat. I'm so sorry for your loss. Rest in peace Slugger.


----------



## MowMow (Nov 6, 2010)

Wow, what a beautiful boy. I'm so sorry for your loss and my heart goes out to you.


----------



## Abbie (Jan 13, 2011)

I have tears in my eyes reading this, so I can only imagine how you must feel. He is indeed very beautiful and had the most wonderful life with you. Run free little man.


----------



## cooncatbob (May 27, 2011)

So sorry for your loss, I know how it feels.
He was such a handsome boy.
No one can ever replace Slugger in your heart but if you allow it another little one in need can make their own place beside him.
The human heart has an infinite capacity for love, there's room for all.


----------



## Fran (Jan 9, 2008)

What a beautiful tribute to your handsome boy! From the sound of it, Slugger was truly your 'soul kitty' - it doesn't happen with every pet and person, but when it does it is a once-in-a-lifetime thing. Thank you for sharing your dear cat's story with us! I am sure you will find that some part of Slugger will be with you every day...

Fran


----------



## LilRed (Jul 16, 2008)

I'm so sorry. I'm in tears too. Glad though that you two met and he taught you how to appreciate a cat. And I too believe that one day, we will meet our lost loves again.


----------



## Clutch (May 10, 2010)

RIP Slugger. I'm sorry for your loss.


----------



## Charley Sullivan (Jan 16, 2012)

35 days since you've gone. 5 weeks.

I miss you Slugger your mom cat misses you.

I miss seeing you every morning when I get up and opening the cat door for you. I miss seeing you greet me every night when I came home from work. Every time I buy you sister cat some food or litter I miss you. 

I miss seeing you on the bed at night and you crawling up between me and your mom cat and soaking up our love and attention. I see you everywhere. When I look out back. Sitting here at the computer I look down at the floor where you may have been sitting begging me to pay attention to you which I did most of the time but regretting the times I didn't. I miss you jumping up in the kitchen chair wanting me to pet you. 

Every night when I come home from work and pull in the drive way I look where I might have seen. Strolling over from the neighbors yard or meeting me at the door and speaking to me. 

I miss seeing you come and hearing your bell when I called you at the back door. 

I miss it when you would wake me up from my afternoon naps by head butting me or licking on my face and hands. You knew wet food was at 6:00 but you always woke me at 4:00 laugh. I miss how you looked at me like I was never going to feed you again. 

I miss your head butts and nose kisses. I miss petting your head which you loved so much and I miss you sitting with me and clawing my legs.

I even miss you scratching me when you did when we were playing. I had a place on my right wrist from where we were giving you medicine but it has healed.

I see you in my mind on a summer day and we are out back and I see you out in the yard and hold my cupped hand down for you and call your name and you come happily with your white tipped tail up in the air like you did many times before. I pet your head and say "you're a good boy, you're a good cat." You were and you always be "my" cat Slugger. I was always so proud of you and I love you. For the first time in weeks I have tears in my eyes as more realization of you being gone from this Earth is hitting me. You were the best cat ever. 

We will see each other again one day.


----------



## orrymain (Dec 9, 2011)

I am so sorry for your loss. The love and joy cats bring to our lives seem to be immeasurable. With each passing day I hope you start to feel that he will always be with you and your wife. You gave him lots of love and a wonderful life. Take care.


----------



## Kobster (Feb 1, 2007)

I'm so sorry for your loss. What a wonderful boy he was.


----------



## cooncatbob (May 27, 2011)

When I last my beloved Samantha last May I got a copy of 
"The Kingdom of Heart" A pet Loss Journal by Patty Luckenbach and it's help with the grieving process.
There's a place inside where you write a letter to your departed pet and tell them what they meant to you.
There's also a space you write a letter to yourself as your departed pet, putting myself in Samantha's place and giving her a voice was healing for me, I know that she loved her Papa dearly, just as much as I loved her.


----------



## Charley Sullivan (Jan 16, 2012)

Tonight is 7 weeks ......49 days.

I love you Slugger and I miss you.

"You are a good boy...you are a good cat" 

:heart


----------



## cooncatbob (May 27, 2011)

I feel your pain, today is 9 months since that terrible day I lost Samantha.
Even today the memory is like a nightmare I can't wake up from.


----------



## kittylion (Feb 24, 2012)

I am new to the site Charley but when I saw the photo of Slugger I felt I had to send you a response. 

Three months before you said goodbye to Slugger, I said goodbye to Polly - a ginger tabby rather like Slugger but smaller. She too had a jingle bell. She was 16 and my two sons had grown up with her.

I said I wouldn't have another cat - I have. I thought I wouldn't have another ginger - but I have (ginger and white), and I said I wouldn't have another jingle bell ... but I have of course.

Now when I call her and I hear that little jingle bell, I think of both of them - Polly and Ruby - you won't forget him ever, but you will eventually love another cat just as much - you just have to find the right one, like I did.

Thinking of you


----------



## Charley Sullivan (Jan 16, 2012)

Thank you kittylion.


----------



## Charley Sullivan (Jan 16, 2012)

To my beloved Slugger

It is exactly 87 days since you left us.

It is Spring and the weather is very nice and you would love it. Yesterday I mowed the grass for the first time and I missed you a lot. I missed seeing you out on the patio in your favorite chair and I miss you when I look out the kitchen window and can see where you might have been.

I hope there is some way in Heaven that you know how much I love you and how much I miss you and what you came to mean to me here on Earth. I pray to God about you almost every night. You were my best friend, my constant companion. If I was feeling bad you were there with your loyalty and comfort.

You were always a good boy and a good cat. I was very proud of you and I feel honored that you graced me with your life.  

There is now a huge framed picture of you above the bed where I sleep and your collar is hanging over the corner of the frame. I still have to work on your grave so it is worthy of a guy like you.

Slugger I miss you buddy. You are a good cat. I miss seeing your happy face. I miss your nose kisses and head butts and I miss having you around me every day of my life. My heart still aches for you.

I am sorry if I didn't pick up on it soon enough when you were sick. I pray you did not suffer too much.

I am sure you are in a much better place now but it does not take away the sting of not having you here with me.

Love, 

your dad cat.


----------

