Part 2: My cat used to nap in a tree!

I have never met a cat with so much personality and problems as Roy.  He almost died the first month I adopted him from a humane society at about 3 years old.  He was lethargic and looking pathetic, so I took him to the vet.  Turns out he had a urinary tract infection and another day without treatment would have killed him. It was becoming a chronic problem, but then I realized his special diet due to allergies was actually causing it.  

 

Roy was a super odd cat, as he was allergic to most meat.  I tried all the specialty diets, but Roy refused to eat them all.  So I special ordered a vegan cat food with taurine just in case.  When it arrived, Roy was so tired of all his food options that he tore into the partially opened box and into the bag of food.  I guess he approved!  He ate this until his last year of life, when he suddenly decided he didn’t like it.  Luckily more options were available that he could eat at that time.

 

Roy hated other cats. I remember after getting approved to adopt Roy, I got him out of his cage and for the first time he could see the other cats around him and he hissed.  In my head I thought, “uh, oh”, but I had already fallen in love. I think he needed to be the focus of everyone’s attention and other cats compromised that.  My poor cat Loki was sometimes bullied, but they found a way to live with each other.  They never became friends though.  Loki became depressed when Roy passed away which took me by surprise.  

 

Roy also demanded to get his way.  He was a challenge to love at times, due to his showing anger at you with peeing on stuff.  It was a constant struggle to figure out ways to stop it.  There were even a few times he peed on me as well!  Luckily the last few years of his life this stopped, but it was the only thing about him that made me want to scream and cry.

 

One thing Roy was great at was getting in trouble.  I think it was mostly because he was such a curious cat. He even managed to get a thorn stuck in his eyeball!  I was so worried about him and had to take him to a specialist for surgery to remove it.  It cost about a grand, which I did not have, so luckily my parents were able to help me out and knew how much Roy meant to me.  

But no amount of trouble, or pee or attitude outweighed the laughs and love I got from Roy.  I have never met a cat so needing of attention.  He would often lie on my left shoulder and would just purr.  And it had to be my left shoulder.  If I tried to put him on my right shoulder, he would switch over right away.  The right shoulder just would not do.  He would also sometimes sit on my left side, kind of like a koala bear.  I would hold him there, and he would hold onto me and it was just adorable.  I could tell if Roy was extra happy I was home because when I picked him up, instead of just being on my shoulder, he would wrap himself around the back of my neck.  I really miss that.

Whenever I got home, Roy was at the door greeting me with a loud meow.  He was quite vocal!  I remember a time he saw another cat out of the window and screamed really loud like a little girl.  He meowed when he wanted to go outside, or when he wanted in, or when he wanted more food or water, or in the car, or when he wanted attention or when he wanted to tell Loki to go away or when he wanted to tell me something I could not understand.  

 

Recently I was in the vet office with Loki.  A women came in with her cat in a carrier and he was meowing over and over again, just like Roy used to do.  I smiled with fondness thinking about Roy and asked the woman about her cat.  I told her how I know it is annoying now, but won’t seem so thinking back on it. I never thought I would miss that about Roy!  

 

For a short period of time, I found myself living at my parent’s house.  One day I came home from work and as I walked towards the yard, I heard Roy’s distant meow but I could not figure out where it was coming from.  I looked all a round and kept hearing him meow.  I then heard some branches move, and looked up across the street to my neighbor’s yard and found Roy starting to climb down the tree.  Turns out, this was his hang out in the neighborhood.  After that, I would often come home and find him nestled up the tree napping.  What a wacko!  I loved it!

 

Another unique characteristic of Roy is his love for corn.  A friend had taught me how awesome eating corn raw is.  So I was partaking in the great treat and Roy was frantic to get at it.  Frantic!  He was swiping at the cob of corn and meowing like crazy.  I handed it over to him and he went to town.  He could eat a whole cob of corn within 15 minutes.  It became my party trick.  I would get the corn out and show him, and he would get so excited.  I would start to peel back the corn stalk and he’d rub against the corn, cause he loved it so much.  After he was done loving on it, he would start to dig in.  By the time he was done, the corn was mostly gone and his mouth and feet were wet from the juice of the corn kernels popping open from his bites.  It was a precious sight.  

This does not even begin to describe how amazing Roy was and how much I loved him.  I could tell you more stories about him breaking into people’s apartments to eat their food, or other trouble he got into, but people who met Roy even for a moment knew he was a special character.  I am not sure how I will go on without his love.  It kept me really strong.  But obviously I will.  I will never forget him, and his memories will always bring me joy.  If you have any to share, I would love to hear it.