Kitty Steps

We moved into our house in 1993 - our first-ever, actually owned house.  Within a month, we adopted two furry girls into our family, dogs whom my husband christened "Rocky" and "Bullwinkle" (seriously, Rocks looked like a terrier-squirrel, and BJ had the brains of a ... well, a certain moose).  We thought it would be enough, but one day, at Little League, someone found a litter of kittens under a bush, and, of course, we claimed one as our own.

We called it Natasha (of course) but a few days later we noticed a slight ... discrepancy, and so we renamed him "Boris."

The day we brought him home, he went under our bed and we didn't see him again for two weeks (though we know he left it because the food was eaten and the litter box in the bathroom was used).  One day, out of nowhere, this little black (with exactly three white hairs) furball leapt up on the bed and stared at us.  We tried to pet him, but he would have none of that, and just curled up at my feet - which became his place of choice to sleep ever since, sucking his tail like a baby sucks his thumb for three years, a process which left him with a red tip to his black tail for several months after he finally outgrew it.

About six months later, he let us touch him on the head.  About six years later (after much patience) he not only let us pet him, he frequently leapt up into my lap (and my newspaper) to demand it.  And, at some point, though he slept at my feet his entire life, he somehow became the Big Lug's cat.

Bo weighed 18 pounds at his biggest, but after he was diagnosed with thyroid and kidney issues, he went down to a sleek 11 pounds, then, after we knew he had cancer, to 6.  He was loud, demanding, boistrous, the bane of the dogs' existences, the cause of most of Head Trip's allergy attacks, and surprisingly camera-shy (probably because we "trained" him with a squirt gun).  But he was also trusting, hilarious, affectionate, and, unlike any other cat I've ever known, worshipped us as often as he demanded it for himself.

In the end, our Boris was also brave and uncomplaining as he simply ... slipped away Saturday morning.  We will miss him.