Goodbye, Topher

Last week was a really sad week at our house, our sweet Topher passed away on Thursday.

I mentioned that he wasn't doing well last month and he took a drastic turn for the worse last week.  Kevin took him to the vet last Monday and the vet said that Topher was old and all his systems were starting to fail him.  We didn't want to put him through tons of tests and procedures.  We brought him home and talked about our options all the while watching him decline very quickly.

We loved on him so much, tried to give him all his favorite things, said our goodbyes throughout the week and he passed away while we were all at school/work on Thursday.  Kevin took such good care of him in his final moments.  I knew it was coming but it didn't make it any easier to say our final goodbye to our sweet Topher.  I thought I was ready to type out this post a few days later, but here I am crying again.  It really is hard to say goodbye to an old friend.  We held a kitty funeral in our backyard with the kids and buried him in a special spot.

Topher was 15 and he lived a life full of adventure.

He had a front row seat to watch our family grow and move all over the country.

Topher came to us in a Target parking lot in Utah.  He was the easiest cat who loved to share a pillow with you at night.  A friend told me that orange cats are the loviest, sweetest cats and we found this to be true.  Topher quickly adapted to living in 6 different homes in 4 different states.  He always found the sunniest spots in the house and I was always his favorite person.  He loved to go for car rides as long as he was free to roam about the vehicle.  He would find the coziest spot and settle in for a nap.

He was my late night buddy.  He was always right by my side doing all my night owl things.  I think as he got older his favorite time of day was spending quiet nights with me all to himself.  He loved a fresh water bowl or a drink from any faucet.  We keep finding ourselves looking for him in his favorite spots around the house.

Topher grew friendlier with age and seemed to warm up to the kids more and more as they got older.  He welcomed 3 kids and enjoyed all the cats that we have added to the family over the years.  He'd always greet guests when they arrived at our house and once he even snuggled up in a friend's purse during book club.

Topher, unlike my own children, has been in the family long enough to have an old school scrapbook of printed pictures of his life.  I started it when he was a baby and had fun adding to it for several years.  He was so loved.

I enjoyed searching through my blog archives for the last 15 years to find some of my favorite Topher pictures.  He was always such a handsome guy who would surprise everyone he'd meet with his age.  No one ever guessed he was as old as he was.  Thankfully, he lived a long healthy life and didn't suffer.

Here are some of my favorite Topher pictures from kitten to old man.  He really did have the sweetest face and personality.  I'm thankful for all of the years we got to love him!

Kitten Topher meeting Oliver.

We were in the car a lot traveling with baby Olive and Topher was always happy to be along for the ride.

He tested out and approved every piece of baby gear that ever came into our house.

Hours and hours of feeding babies and Topher was always nearby.

He put up with me dressing him up for the holidays.

Topher appreciated my love of a pretty chair filled with pillows and blankets.

And he quickly found favorite spots in our current house.

As he got older, he claimed our primary bathroom/bedroom as his favorite spot.  He would always enjoy being up high on our counters far away from busy Leo.  We started our days together every morning with him snuggling up to my make up bag.  And politely meowing for a drink from the sink.

Every time I walk into our bathroom I expect to see this cutie in his favorite spot in between our sinks.  I miss him terribly, but I'm so thankful for all our happy years together.

We buried him in a special spot on our property and talk about him often.  I think I'll make a Christmas ornament with one of my favorite pictures of Topher and maybe add a cute orange tabby cat ornament to our Christmas tree this year in his memory.  The kids are handling the loss well.  They are all sad, but they know that Topher lived a great, long kitty life with our family.  Our other cats are kind of in a funk after losing their buddy.  Time will help heal all of our hearts.

Saying goodbye to an old friend is HARD.

Happy Birthday, Topher!

Happy July!  Summer really is flying by.  Our sweet Topher turns 15 today!

We surprised him with a new bag of cat toys, fresh cat nip and his favorite wet cat food "cake".

He was born in Utah, adopted in a Target parking lot with the name of Garfield and has lived all over the country.  He's always been a sweet guy, but somehow he's gotten friendlier and more outgoing as he's gotten older.  He barely batted an eye when we added cats and kids to the family.  He's lived in six different houses always managing to find the sunniest spots to nap.  He loves me the most with a close second to anyone that will turn on a faucet for him to get a drink.

Cute, but annoying little sisters.

He's been a healthy, happy guy his whole life!

Adding Kittens to the Family

Have you ever wanted to add a kitten or two to your family, but were worried about how your older pets would react?

I want to encourage you - kittens are always a good idea - if you've got the time, energy and love for them. 

Last September we added two girl kittens - Penny & Pearl - to our family.  They were very tiny when we adopted them - just a little over 1 pound each.  We intended to get one kitten to go with our older two male cats.  Then the kids talked me into two kittens because "You can't separate the sisters!"  They were right.  

Life was much easier and better with a pair of kittens.  We'd always adopted one cat at a time and they had a hard time adjusting to a new house those first few days.  There was basically no adjustment time for these sweet sisters.  They were happy to be loved and happy to stay together.  No crying and no separation issues.  So if you can swing it, I'd highly recommend adopting a pair of kittens.

We kept the pretty separate from our older cats for probably the first 2 or 3 months since they were so tiny.  I think this really helped in making the kittens feel safe and helped not overwhelm the older cats.  They had time to learn the ropes and could become friends in short spurts of time.  They took over the kid's bathroom.  It housed their litter, food, water and beds.  They had their own blankets and towels that I'd use and wash separately just for them.  We'd put them in there when we left the house, overnight and they loved their cozy spot.  This helped them to feel safe and secure.  It also helped our older cats get used to them.  They could sniff them, but didn't have to share any of their food, water or litter with the new kittens.

Our older boy cats were 11 & 12 and they mostly tried to ignore the kittens.  They'd hiss and run away from them, but there wasn't ever a safety issue with them all being together.  They had their own spaces and own favorite spots.  Life stayed this way for those first 3 months.

Then, as the kitten started getting bigger, we started letting them roam and be on their own more.  We would supervise play time to make sure that the kittens stayed safe.  Occasionally, we'd even catch them snuggling with one of their older brothers.  Once they became more familiar with each other we moved all of their food, water, litter boxes to the same room.  They each still had their own spots but they were learning to coexist.  We left things this way for another 3 months or so and then we integrated them even more.  

Our oldest cat passed away unexpectedly in January and I was so glad that we had the cute kittens for Topher and as a cute distraction for us.  We went down to one food bowl, one water bowl and left two litter boxes.  It works for them.  It seems like the perfect balance where they can each eat, drink and then have their space a bit for the litter boxes.  They all take turns and eat on their own terms.  Everyone mingles with everything now.  There aren't any designated kitten areas anymore.

Topher still likes to think he's the boss of the kitty crew.  He's 12 and kind of mouthy.  The kittens are so so sweet and busy and we're so glad Kevin found them for us. 

 

Kitten adoption tips:

Pay attention to their little personalities when you meet them because they're usually pretty accurate.

Listen to what the owners tell you about them - this one is so snuggly, this ones hides a lot, etc.

Get them check ups at the vet ASAP.

Kittens are easy to little train, but if you adopt tiny ones, be prepared for some messes as they figure out life.  Wet wipes near the litter box help minimize the messes.

Keep the kittens on the same schedule for vet appointments and eventually try to get all your cats on the same check up/shot schedule to simplify things.  Same thing goes for medicine or surgeries - do them at the same time.

We had two boys first and then added two girls.  They are all spayed/neutered and we've never had any trouble with having boys and girls together.

Let me know if you have any more kitten questions or need any kitten encouragement!

We are a cat loving family :)

Here are some pictures of adding kittens to the family.

I'd forgotten how messy kittens were.  They get food and litter everywhere in the bathroom.  If you can make your kitten zone in a carpet free area that would be best and easiest to clean up messes.

We tried lots of cat beds and their favorite set up was an IKEA storage box on its side filled with cozy blankets.

Lots of cozy kitten snuggles happening here!  I'm

Sweet Ways to Remember a Pet

Have you ever had to say goodbye to a beloved family pet?

I had not until earlier this month.  We said goodbye to our 12 year old cat Oliver.  It was unexpected and sad, but I'm happy to report that we're all doing alright.  Yes, we still miss him, but we are thankful for all the good years we had with him.

I thought I'd share some ways that we've remembered our sweet cat that have brought happiness to our lives since he passed away.  Sure there were plenty of tears right when it happened, but all of these ideas are things that we've done to heal our hearts and help our kids process the loss.

1. Paw Print Keepsake

Our vet's office uses a service called Pet Angel and offer a paw print keepsake.  It took us a week to get ours. I am so glad that we did.  We all loved seeing Oliver's paw print.  I think you can get name plate and frame them, but we were just happy to have the paw print.

 

 

2. Talk about it

The kids have been really chatty wanting to reminisce about Oliver.  We've looked at pictures, I wrote a blog post about Oliver and we've been sharing Oliver stories.  Also, tell the people you love that you lost your pet.  It'll be good for you to share.

3. Cat Heaven

This is a really sweet book by Cynthia Rylant.  There is a Cat Heaven and Dog Heaven and they're both great.  They're sweet, silly, happy books that leave you with the warm fuzzy feeling that your pet will always know they were loved and are happy now in heaven.

4. Cards

I was really surprised to get several cards in the mail after Oliver passed away.  It was such a sweet surprise for friends and family to acknowledge the loss and just say they cared.

Hugs to you if you've lost a pet!  Furry family members are special.

 

Here are my Amazon links to those cat and dog books.  The cat one is wonderful and I've gifted the dog heaven book to a friend.  I'd recommend both if you know someone who's lost a pet.

Saying Goodbye to an Old Friend

It's been a super sad week at our house (and in the country - right!?!).

On Tuesday, we had to say goodbye to our oldest cat, Oliver.  

It was unexpected and so sad.

As my dad reminded me, "Old friends are hard to lose"  So true.

Oliver was 12 and had been with us for so many of our family adventures.  

We adopted him as a tiny kitten in Utah.  He's lived in 5 different homes in 4 different states - Utah, Arkansas, Mississippi and Indiana.  He was a road trip champion minus the one time he escaped our hotel room in Arkansas and was running the halls.  He would always find the sunniest spots in any place we lived and loved to look out the windows.  He adjusted to adding 3 kids to the family and learned how to pretty happily coexist with them.  He slept at our feet every night.

He was our first pet.  He was my side kick for grading papers when I was teaching, working on homework when I got my masters and I was his person.  He played along with being dressed up for the holidays and then played along with the kids. He taught us that cats are better in pairs.  He was happiest when Topher was near.  They were the snuggliest of brothers.  They were just a year a part in age and bonded just like real brothers.

Oliver was always my late night buddy.  He seemed to enjoy the quiet evening just as much as me.  The kids were all asleep and he got more attention.  We nearly lost him 5 years ago right before Fletcher was born, but then he rallied for some pretty great years.  He got to know Fletcher, lived long enough to meet Leo and welcomed two more kittens to the family.  I wasn't sure how he'd adjust to Penny and Pearl, but he was the first to befriend them.  His health has been touch and go and I think he was just done.  Daily medicines and health concerns were hard on the poor guy.  He always loved a good chin rub and would purr anytime I was near.  I was his favorite human.

Fast forward to now: Earlier in the week I had noticed he was not acting like himself.  I tried to give him some extra TLC and then made him a vet appointment for the following day.  That night he slept right beside me and purred the whole night.  He seemed so lovey.  The vet determined that he was suffering and his health struggles were now causing him pain.  We'd promised him that we wouldn't put him through any more or do anything extreme to extend his life.  We made the super hard decision to put him to sleep.  

We loved him too much to see him suffer.

It was hard on Kevin and I.  Adulting is hard sometimes.  It was even harder to explain to the kids.  We all cried.  They had tons of questions and were sad to lose their buddy.  It was hard to see Topher missing his BFF of 11 years.  I'm so thankful we added the kittens to the family this Fall so that Topher now has two built in buddies.  They're eager to be his friend although he's a little skeptical of all of their love.  God was looking out for our family - the kittens have brought us lots of joy!

I'm going to do a little walk down memory lane today with some of our favorite Oliver moments.  It made me so happy to go back and see all the sweet moments we had with him.

Oliver in Utah:

Oliver + Olive:

 

Oliver + Olive & Fletcher:

Olive + 3 kids + 2 kittens:

 

 Go ahead and squeeze your pets a little tighter today :)

Saying goodbye to an old friend is never easy.  Miss you, Oliver!