Billy

Our beloved cat of 8.5 years was euthenized today (Saturday 16th June 2007) just after midday.

Billy The Cat came to our family Christmas Eve 1998. He was cute, beautiful and great fun with a winning personality for a mere cat.

He grew to be a BIG cat...weighing in on average around 7.5kg (about 16.53lbs) with the most magnificent fat thick furry tail :)

He was independant and not really a "snuggly" cat although he did love his brushing sessions with "Daddy" each day.

He took to my old teddy bear I got when I was one year old. He used to cart it around the house at night howling with it as if it were prey in the wild, teddy firmly clenched between his teeth. Then he would "Kill" Teddy with passionate intent. It was like watching a miniture tiger carving up the family kill for the feasting. That poor teddy got so mauled I had to recover him many times so he looked nothing like what he did when I first received him.

Teddy will also be buried with Billy today in the old fishpond which is pretty much useless now with the drought. We shall fill it with soil and plant a shrub in it to remember our beautiful cat by.

For the past 12 months our cat has suffered regular and untreatable seizures. This past week saw him suffer through maybe close to 15 + violent and excruciating convulsions. It was never pretty to watch Bill have a seizure but I got innured to it and accepted them as a part of his...our lives. But this week brought too many and his temperament changed to that of a very haunted, anxious and aggressive shadow of his former self.

We watched the entire process of his passing away; my husband, my daughter and myself. Only our son has missed saying goodbye to Billy as he had to play footy in Nati today. I'm sure this will be something he may or may not regret as the years go by - we don't know yet.

Billy hated the Vet this past couple of years. He growled and whined constantly. His passing away was no different really. Feisty and opinionated to the end, our cat went to his next home with a deep growl in the back of his throat. It doesn't worry me to remember him this way...it was absolutely and positively our Billy expressing his displeasure as usual. :)

He had a lot of names over the course of his life. Here are some of the nicknames he's had over the years.

Fooffy-Feffer
Pooh-Face
Pooh
Bucket
Bucket Features
Poofy-Feather
Zoids
Billzoids
Billikins
Fluffy-Guts
Bubby


Loved and doted on, our cat passes into memory and time for us now. We shall never replace him as a personality. Time will tell if we replace him for another pet. Right now... another pet just seems too much like hard work. I want to rest from the constant vigilance having a pet requires now, not only to savour the memory of Billy, but to just rest from having to THINK about his welfare and needs.

He is seizure and pain free now. Thank God for his life and for the gift of joy that he brought to us all these past 8.5 years.