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Dewey
March 1, 2016 – November 28, 2023.
I’m so sorry to tell you that yesterday morning we said goodbye to Dewey. He was diagnosed with Congestive Heart Failure over a year ago. In the time since, he had been doing great until late last week. Monday afternoon we knew it was time to make the decision, and so we did.
He went peacefully as we held him and told him what a sweet, wonderful boy he was, and how very much we’d miss him.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Dewey came to us in late 2016 as a foster; he was then named Dustin (we renamed him Dewey when we made him a permanent resident). He had been rescued from an industrial park, where he was living with three other cats (we assume they were dumped there.) He was a very timid cat, and Susan at Challenger’s House (where I was fostering at the time) asked if Fred would work with him to make him less fearful.
He was extremely timid, but with some work and attention and a lot of love, he came around and decided that Fred was okay.
It took him longer to decide that I was okay too, but the time came when I would wake in the middle of the night to find him sleeping with me, and it felt like a gift.
He liked his people (eventually!), but he was immediately a fan of the other cats. He made friends with Frankie (who showed up on our doorstep around the time we got Dewey to foster) and Dennis and Stefan and of course Jake.
Dewey and Frankie.
Dennis and Dewey.
Dewey and Jake.
Dewey and Stefan.
Stefan and Dewey.
Dewey (middle of the bed) surrounded by Jake, Kara, Khal and Stefan.
After we’d been fostering him for about a month, we decided that he needed to be a permanent resident – he was too fearful of other people to spend time at Petsmart, he got along great with the other cats… and we just liked him. He was such a gentle, sweet boy.
No one could throw themselves into a nap the way Dewey could – I swear in his first few years with us I’d have to stop and stare at him to be sure he was breathing, he’d sleep so deeply. Sometimes I’d pet him, just so he’d wake up, blink at me, chirp, and then roll over and drop off to sleep again.
Things he loved: watching the chickens out the window when we lived at Crooked Acres. Watching the birds out the window and chattering at them. The feather teaser (it scared him at first, but when he realized how much fun it could be, the boy would FLY.)
Churu. Good lord, that boy loved his Churu. In fact, I think it was his reaction to the very first tube of Churu I brought into the house that made me realize the other cats (and fosters) might like to give it a try.
He loved being outside – getting to see the birds and the chipmunks and squirrels without a window between them was his favorite thing. Though once I saw a chipmunk walk RIGHT past him as he watched, and he didn’t do a thing. So he was perhaps not the best hunter in the world. (Though Khal did teach him how to carry a buzzing Cicada around in his mouth.)
I loved to watch him stretch out on the deck, enjoying the sunshine, and exposing that gorgeous caramel-colored tummy to the world.
A few years ago, Dewey made it very clear to me that he didn’t want me to take his picture. It took me a while to figure out the message he was sending, but when he started actively avoiding me whenever I had a camera (or my phone, ready to take pictures) in my hand, it clicked. I promised him that I would never take another picture of him, and I kept that promise to the very end. I think he appreciated how hard it was for me not to take pictures of his gorgeous face. The one above with his Ears of Annoyance was one of the last ones I took… and I feel like it was a fitting last shot.
He loved the Christmas lights. In my memory are so many ADORABLE pictures of him lying under the Christmas tree, looking up at the lights. I got our Christmas decorations put up on Saturday, and I am so glad that he got to see them once again.
I knew Dewey wouldn’t be with us forever – I’ve been waiting for this particular shoe to drop since his diagnosis last year. But also Fred was willing to deal with everything Dewey/vet related, so I was able to bury my head in the sand and pretend he was fine. So it’s more of a shock to me than it should be. I knew he wouldn’t be here forever… but somehow I didn’t think he would leave us so soon. It’s too soon.
(It’s always too soon.)
Goodbye, you dear, darling boy. I know along with Stefan, you had so many friends waiting for you. Tell Stefan and Archie and Frankie and Jake and… all of them. Tell them all we miss them so much. We miss you so much.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Previously
2022: Saul has a concern, and his concern is that you’re not going to pay him for his legal services.
2021: Alfie and Christopher went galumphing through the kitten room, and it put the Elements kittens on high alert.
2020: This picture cracks me up because Tater Tot’s ear is positioned just right so that it looks like Hush Puppy is a unicorn.
2019: That little sneer on Gabrielle’s face is killing me.
2018: Cruise is all “We gonna nap, or we gonna nap?”
2017: Crooked Acres Wednesday.
2016: Iva says “C’mere, lady. I been savin’ a knuckle sammich for you.”
2015: No entry.
2014: “I note that she laffed and laffed while she was saying how sorry she was, so I am skeptical of her sorrow.”
2013: “Walk away, lady. You don’t see nothin’.”
2012: And then Fred showed me the house on Google Earth, and I grabbed a screenshot and labelled everything, and… here you go!
2011: The Many Faces of Chuckles.
2010: It was horrifying, yet so fascinating that I couldn’t look away.
2009: Sometimes I call him “Brick Brickman” – that’s the name he’ll use when he grows up to be a news anchor.
2008: No entry.
2007: TOO MANY CATS UP IN THIS HOUSE.
2006: No entry.
2005: No entry.