It’s probably sad to say that a cat is your best friend. But, for better or worse, Loafy was my best friend. He’d been through a few different family members before I agreed to take him when I bought my first home late in 2009. I didn’t realize the blessing I was about to receive.

I’ve had a few cats that have had a lot of personality and Loafy was definitely one of them. When he was younger he used to tear up and down the length of my house chirping, for lack of a better word. He would come running from anywhere when he heard me open a can of food or a bag of treats. And like Mugsy he just seemed to know my mood, especially when I was down and would always try to cheer me up.

Because he’d gone through several homes I wasn’t always exactly sure when his birthday was. I was pretty sure it was in 2004 but was told June and March at different times. Regardless, last year he celebrated his 19th birthday. During the pandemic I had almost lost him. He started losing a ton of weight and being extremely tired. I found out he had hyperthyroidism and knowing that he hated pills or anything of the sort, and being blessed with resources, I decided to get him radiation treatment.

I was terrified. The only other time he’d been in surgery of any sort he’d had a really bad reaction to the anesthesia. Plus being so frail I was convinced I was about to lose him. Thankfully he pulled through, although I do think I annoyed the vets with how often I called to check on him. Unfortunately through the sickness and everything else he’d lost his hearing but other than that he was in pretty good shape for a teenage cat. Plus he now had a new quirk where he didn’t realize how loud he was and would scream. It used to drive me nuts. I’d give anything for it now.

Just before Christmas he started to be very tired and lose weight again. I knew something was up. I took him to the vet multiple times and they’d treated him for cold like symptoms. His kidneys had started to go a few years ago but had stabilized at stage 2 as I adjusted his diet. But just after I got back from visiting my family for Christmas he’d started to get real bad. They had done bloodwork only a few months before but I got him retested and that’s when they told me it’d progressed to stage 4 and he probably had a few weeks left at best.

I was devastated. I had prayed and begged God or the Universe or anyone that would listen for him to go peacefully in his sleep when his time came. But now I knew I’d have to once again make that difficult call all pet caretakers dread. His last weekend was the most difficult. I knew I wanted to use my vet but they were only open half days on Saturday and closed on Sunday. On Friday he was doing really bad but he rallied on Saturday and stayed stable until Monday morning.

But Monday I could tell it was time. He could barely hold himself up. He had lost all interest in food or treats. It was just time, as much as I didn’t want it to be. Life is cruel in making us choose to have our family put down, even if it may be a kindness in saving them from suffering.

It was January 22, 2024 and I had lost my best friend. Now it’s been just over 7 months and while I’m still so thankful that I got him in my Life and for so long, I do miss him so much.

The one consolation is back when Loafy was around 9 I decided he needed a buddy. So I had gotten a kitten named Grizzly. He’s about to celebrate his 11th birthday on Halloween and we both miss our best friend. Neither of us is as close to each other as we were to Loafy, but at least we still have each other.