When my eyes met his for the first time, we just totally CONNECTED. It was Love ad first sight. I remember it like it was yesterday. Me and my mother were out after Thanksgiving at the shopping center. We just happened to go into GC Murphy's and there was a pet shop in the back. We went back there and saw these 3 wonderful little kitties. I called my Husband and asked him "Hon, I found the PERFECT KITTIES! Can I PLEASE adopt one? (He's been telling me "NO" for months. To my surprise, he said, "Yes, but don't just bring one home - bring two so they each have a buddy to play with." I was like WOW!!! From being told "NO" all these months to being allowed to bring TWO kitties home!!!! I was so EXCITED!!!!
So me and my Mom went to adopt our kitties. She chose the gray one (later named Zane Gray) and I chose the little female who would become known as Missy. When the guy took the first two out of the glass showcase, the other one (Fuzz) looked back and forth from my mother to me and started meowing like he was saying "Whoa! Hey! Wait A minute!!! What about ME? What about ME? Don't leave ME here all by myself!!!" [there was a HUGE boa constrictor in the case right next to the kitty case]. Well, when our eyes met, my heart just MELTED and he became MY FAVORITE. I just did NOT have the heart to leave him behind, all alone like that [especially with that big ugly snake in the next display case, right where this poor kitty could see it licking its chops every time it looked at them!!!] So all three babies came home with us.
When we got home, My Mom was afraid to walk in the door because we had THREE kitties in a box, and she was afraid my husband would LOSE IT. I told her, "Evidently, you still don't know my husband very well at all" and I carried them in the house while she waited by the inside of the door. I laughed at her and handed him the box and said, "Look Honey, KITTIES!!!!!!" He set the box down, and opened it up and said, "Just HOW MANY KITTIES ARE IN HERE???" (since they were milling around it was hard to tell)... "lemme see.... one pair of eyes... two pairs of eyes..... three pairs of eyes... three kitties, there's three kitties in this here box" with a chuckle. The gray one ended up being his favorite, and Missy ended up being my Mom's favorite. (Mom was living with us at the time.)
Mr. Fuzz's original name was Chief Geronimo, because when one of the other kitts would walk in front of the couch, he would leap off the couch at them like a paratrooper jumping out of a plane yelling, GERONIMO!!!!!! and ambush them. It was hilarious. But as time went on, his silly antics would make me say to him, "You are just SUCH A FUZZ!!!" He also had an abundance of whiskers and chin hairs, so I took to calling him "Fuzz Face". Another one was "Fuzzy Wuzzy Muttsy Face". As he got older, it became "Mr. Fuzz". He used to just drop and roll around like a furry goofball when you least expected it, and would get that crazy kitty energy and run down the hall sideways, rocking back n forth like a hobby horse, with his back arched and his tail hooked, looking like a Halloween cat, it was so funny to see!!! Or he'd try to run from a complete stop on the kitchen floor and he would be "spinning mitt" because he couldn't get a grip on the slick floor. Oh the sweet MEMORIES!!!! Adopting these critters was such a BLESSING, because through the years they've made my husband laugh, and his laughter is music to my ears since he hardly laughs, being that he's such a serious man.
Here is another kitten picture. He was so small that he fit on top of the scratching post that I made for them. The total diameter of what he is sitting on is only 2-1/2 inches wide, that's how SMALL he was here. He was the GENTLEST cat that we have ever met. I remember one time he caught a little field mouse (without putting his claws out). He basically had it pinned under his great big white mitt. He then lifted up his paw to see what he had caught, and the mouse took off, unharmed, to parts unknown. It was so funny. He reacted like, "Hey wait! come back here!!!! what are you?" Me and my Husband Bill just LAUGHED, it was so cute.
Mr. Fuzz was a TALKER. He learned to ask me for water in the morning, so I would rinse out the bowl and give them fresh water every morning. (As time wore on, he would ask for water every time I was in the kitchen, so I would dribble some from a plastic bottle and he would then drink.) He used to jump in the tub to get at the spigot after my bath, to lick the drips out of the faucet. I used to tell him, no more spigot-face silly! that's enough! because I didn't want him to start licking near the drain in case there was soap residue there. He was always talking to me. I would be sitting here on the computer and he would reach up with his front paws and put them on my leg and meow at me to give HIM attention... and even jump up in front of the keyboard if I didn't respond to him quick enough! Of course, I would stop what I was doing and hug him and FLOOD HIM with kisses.... He was just so SOFT and smelled so pretty!!! I just LOVED to bury my face in that heavenly fur of his!
He was my four-legged alarm clock. Every morning he would walk on my back (felt so GOOD) and meow in my ear. When I didn't respond right away, he would start to impatiently YIP at me (I think he was reading me the RIOT ACT in cat language!!!) I would lay there on purpose waiting for the reprimand to come because it was so cute. Oh how I LOVED that cat!!!!
This picture was taken of Mr. Fuzz about 3 years ago and me weighing about 25 pounds less than I do now (hahaha). He was the total picture of health here. He was an indoor cat, but I did take him out every now and again to get some fresh air. (We live near a busy interstate highway, so letting them roam was out of the question, too dangerous, and the neighborhood is full of dogs.) Mr. Fuzz had such soft fur, like bunny rabbit fur. And he was so stealthy, he could jump up on the bed and you barely even felt him land (maybe because those paws were so BIG?). You could hear those big mitts ppp ppp ppp across the bare kitchen floor though, like big slippers hitting the linoleum. I just LOVED every inch of that kid's body, from his beautiful fuzzy head to the tip of his fluffy tail. He had such big soft paws too...
When my younger brother Buzz died resulting from a motorcycle accident last year, (his real name was Brian), I was alone in the house with just my cats that day. I had just come home to take a bath. I REALLY needed one, I was at the hospital for 3 days in a row and was planning on returning after I bathed. Well, right before I undressed, I got the phone call that Buzz passed away. After I hung up, I went into the bathroom to cry my eyes out as I bathed. I KNOW that I closed the bathroom door, but when I started to cry, somehow Fuzz managed to push that door open and he came in and meowed along with me, like he was saying, "Oh Mommy!!! I feel so bad for You!! Please Mommy don't cry!!!!" It was amazing. He just put his front paws up on the side of the tub and got his face to mine as close as he could without falling into the water and just cried along with me... He gave me more comfort that day any other human possibly could.
Yes, my Mr. Fuzz was so very special, to me and everybody else who came to know him. Now my 4-legged alarm clock is no longer here to wake me at 5:30 a.m. every morning, and the other kitties just don't ask for water and food like he did (even though both bowls were full, he still asked every chance he got, he was such a character!!!) Fuzz was constantly near me, if I went into one room, he followed... he was my favorite foot warmer (he was so meek that when we adopted the other gray cat that we have now, he never put up a fight when the newcomer took over his sleeping spot at the head of our bed between me and my husband's shoulders.)
Well, here is a picture of Mr. Fuzz that I took one half hour before the last long ride. When it got to the point that my little buddy could no longer walk without falling over or bumping into the wall (he still talked to me, had that HUGE appetite and LOVED drinks of water) I tearfully knew that it was time. Fortunately, he declined so rapidly that we didn't have to see him suffer for long. The vets at Valley Veterinarian in Belle Vernon, PA were the GREATEST doctors and personnel that any furkid and cat parent could ever ask for. I owe so much to their Love and Compassion and genuine CONCERN for my little baby. And the way that they allowed me to be there at the end to see Mr. Fuzz off was such a tender caring experience that I will NEVER forget. Praise God for such great people. I really do appreciate all that they have done for us and Mr. Fuzz these past few months. They are genuine angels in the flesh.
I got to hold Mr. Fuzz as he went into slumber, and it was as if he breathed a genuine sigh of RELIEF while he was in my arms and gently went to sleep. I told him, that he was the PRETTIEST KITTIE ON THE PLANET and soon would be the PRETTIEST KITTIE IN HEAVEN. I told him that he was so PRECIOUS to me and that I LOVE HIM VERY VERY MUCH. I know that he did not feel any pain or fear when he crossed over, which really gives comfort to my heart. Thank You Dr. Nelson for all of your help and compassion, and Thank You Ashley, for your heartfelt hug and kind words to me after it was all over.
We still have Missie, Mr. Fuzz's sister.... his other sibling, Zane Gray passed away when he was only 9 months old, from a head trauma (he ran hard into a wall during one of his kitty frenzies and went into convulsions). Dr. Nelson got out of bed to meet us at the office to take care of him, but the poor guy died the next day at noon. My husband took that one hard..... Dr. Nelson tried all he could but the Lord had different plans for little Zanie..... So now Mr. Fuzz and Insane Zane are reunited and making my brother Buzz laugh in heaven with their kitty antics!! And our deceased half-feral outdoor cat, Muffie will be there too. That thought brings me such JOY to know that I will see them all again. In the meantime, Missie, Gray Ghost and Tommie Boy will now get the remainder of my Love that I gave to Mr. Fuzz.
I will now end this tribute to my Precious Baby with a poem that my Friend and Sister in the Lord, Barbara, sent to me. It truly is beautiful, and says it all.
They say that memories are golden,
Well maybe that is true.
I never wanted memories,
I only wanted you.
A million times I needed you,
A million times I cried.
If love alone could have saved you,
You never would have died.
In life I loved you dearly,
In death I love you still.
In my heart you hold a place
No one could ever fill.
If tears could build a stairway,
And heartache makes a lane.
I'd walk a path to heaven
And bring you back again.
Our family chain is broken,
And nothing seems the same.
But as God calls us one by one,
The chain will link again.
Author unknown
October 6, 1992 to November 6, 2006
Copyright © Candy Bowen
November 8, 2006
