Tooter

My sweet Toot is gone, and most likely gone for good. It has been one week since we saw her.  The last time we saw her she looked great and was walking along the water like she always did. That was last Sunday.  She didn't show up to breakfast like she always does. That was the first red flag.  She usually waits in the garage for the first person up to feed her the wet food. When she didn't show up for breakfast on day two and the breakfast from day one was still in her food dish we really started to worry.  Mamaw, Chris and I searched the neighborhood, I looked on the shelter website but there was no sign of Toot.  I didn't think we would find her wandering the neighborhood or in the pound but I had to check.  She was such a cool cat, as was Molly.  She stayed right on our property unless she followed us on a walk (or paddle boat).  She loved to lay in the sun and be petted by the girls. She loved living on the canal and sunbathed on our chairs by the water all of the time. She did come in when it was really hot or really cold out, but she preferred to be outside and in the garage (which she could access through her kitty door). I am very sad she is gone, and I think she must have gone away to die. I hope it was quick and painless and I am sad that I wasn't with her. She was almost 17 years old, but she had seemed so healthy that it surprised me she was gone. I have had her for over 16 years. When I was 20 years old and attending UT, Roxie and I shared an apartment and decided to adopt kittens together.  I picked Molly and she picked Tooter. They were so tiny and needy!  We had our hands full! First taste of "motherhood". We lived together for a few years with our kittens that turned into cats and then when we lived apart Toot went with Rox and Molly went with me. It was sad to separate them because they were like sisters. Eventually Roxie moved to Houston and got engaged and wanted to find a new home for Toot, so I gladly took her in and she has been mine for the past 13 years.  She, along with Molly, were my comfort through many hard times in my life and they have lived with me in apartments, duplexes, houses.  We have made road trips from DFW to Austin together more times than I like to think about. They were both the sweetest cats and behaved more like dogs than cats. I am so glad that the last 8 years of Toot's life she got to live in a house with a yard where she could primarily be outside.  She and Molly both preferred this (as did I- no litter box!). All three girls got to meet and enjoy Toot and she was the sweetest to all of them. I have missed Molly ever since we lost her, as has Toot, but I find some comfort in losing Toot knowing that she is with Molly again and I know they are snuggled up together like they used to do from the time they were babies on.

RIP Tooter
2000-2016

And we are now a single pet family.  (2 if you count Fiona!).  I have 2 little girls asking for a kitten so we will see how long this lasts.