My heart is aching:
Sherman was the best cat on the planet - I reminded her of that fact at least once every single day. And yes, Sherman was a she. I didn’t give her that name, but even though it was a bit quirky I think it fit her dignified, yet fun and very loving mien purrfectly (as I prefer to spell it). My wife and I had her put down this past Saturday, and we both agreed that her loss was the most difficult of any pet either of us had ever shared our life with (I never say “owned”, it just seems too self-important, not to mention degrading to our furry friends). Sherman had a complicated and at times rough history, but surprisingly that adversity did not break her loving and trusting nature. She was tiny at 7 pounds, but fierce, and she showed that CKD (chronic kidney disease) who was boss – enjoying more than two years of life following the diagnosis. She developed a number of nasty symptoms toward the end that I think would make most humans cry “Uncle”, but she dealt with them stoically (sans drugs, even, since they all had bad side effects), and was always happy to climb up into a warm, soft lap and fire up the purr-engines! On Saturday afternoon, however, she suffered a major seizure and all I could do was cradle her in my arms until the seizure subsided. My wife and I knew that we could not risk another of those horrible episodes, so we took her to our vet, and by 5:30 I was sitting bleary eyed at the kitchen table looking at paw prints and a couple vials of her silky soft, beautiful fur.
I’m still having a hard time with her loss – there are so many reminders of her in every single room of our house, no matter how many toys and dishes are donated to shelters. I’m a died-in-the-wool Kossack, so was absentmindedly scanning the headlines over breakfast on Sunday, trying to take my mind off Sherman, when I saw the article about ROSY, the “heart-and-soul dog”, but didn’t think I could handle it right then. Later I forced myself to read it, and while it brought many tears to my eyes, I realized that it was a great way to memorialize and share the joy of a pet with those who weren’t lucky enough to know them. I think it also helps the human companion cope with the grief by doing something productive in response to all the sorrow. So here I am, writing up Sherman’s story, thankful to arhpdx for the inspiration. This is my first story on DK, so please bear with my “faux paws”, and educate me in the comments.
Sherman’s Interesting Life:
Sherman was probably born in 2008, and had at least 3 families, though not very much is known about the earliest part of her life. Her first known companion was a girl in a nearby town whose boyfriend was very cruel and would kill stray cats . . . just because, apparently. We don’t know if Sherman personally suffered from the boyfriend, but she probably sensed his cruelty, as she spent a lot of time roaming the neighborhood and inviting herself into other people’s homes. One of those was the home of the people that would adopt/take-her-in, and become her second family. Sherman initially befriended a daughter in the family, but was rebuffed by the mother, who had previously been attacked by a large stray cat, and was therefore leery. Sherman persisted, jumping in an open window and quickly settling on the mother’s lap and purring, winning over mom’s heart. This was in 2011. The daughter wanted to name the cat “Pokémina”, but a brother (Dan) nixed that idea and christened her “Sherman”. In 2014 during a vet visit, the doctor estimated Sherman’s age at six.
This second family loved Sherman very much, but she was still a curious little roamer, and unfortunately got herself trapped in a house/garage/barn (nobody knows for sure) in mid-May of 2016. Dan’s family looked all over for her for many days but couldn’t find her, so thought they had lost her. Nearly a month passed before an emaciated Sherman returned to Dan’s family. Her claws were worn down to nubs, suggesting she had to claw her way out of her predicament, and her voice was very hoarse. Dan’s family nursed her back to health in short order. In 2017 Dan’s family moved to a different town, and at about the same time a different sister of Dan’s moved back home. This sister was allergic to cats, so Sherman was relegated to living mostly outdoors, though Dan built a small, heated house for her on their deck. Facing a brutal upstate NY winter in the fall of 2018, Dan decided it would be in Sherman’s best interest to find her a new home. Fortunately the stars were aligned and Dan had become a good friend of my young adult son, and my son knew Sherman would be perfect for his old “cat-dad”!
So I met Sherman for the first time on Sept. 23, 2018, she stole my heart in about 10 seconds, and I brought her home on Oct. 12. My wife and I both wanted Sherman to be an indoor-only cat, both for her health and for the good of the local songbird population, etc. Besides, Sherman was already getting a bit long in the tooth at roughly 10 years old, had several battle-scars (mostly knicks in her ears) from all of her outdoor living over the years, and was rife with ticks, despite having worn flea and tick collars. Sherman hated car rides and yowled constantly while in the car, so the half hour ride home from Dan’s house was very hard on her. We let her out of the carrier in the garage and she immediately disappeared into the chaos of boxes, tools, lumber, etc. With some effort, I spied her on top of a stack of boxes deep behind and underneath my work bench an hour or two later, but only called out her name to try and reassure her, plus I had set out some food, water and a litter box. Another hour or two later she was in a different hiding place, though I never found that one! Finally, at about 8 that evening I took a folding chair out to the garage and just sat on it calling her name, and after a little while I saw a bit of sleek cat movement out of the corner of my eye, and by 8:25 I was taking selfies of her on my lap and knew that everything would be OK.
Sherman spent a week or more in quarantine in our (heated) garage to keep the ticks out of our living areas, but after that she quickly established herself as the “Queen of the House”, as is only proper for such a cat! The years went by with many adventures, lots of playtime, lots of snuggling (esp. with my wife – it was like the two of them were glued together when they were on the couch), and the requisite, occasional jumping onto counters that curious cats can’t seem to help. And we loved her more and more every day. After a couple of years she was totally domesticated, not even bothering to try to escape for a backyard adventure as was her wont, initially. She loved watching the bird feeders through the sliding glass door. She revealed her free-roaming background one day, though, when she puffed up like a furry Michelin Man at the sight of a coyote that was hanging out in our backyard for several hours – methinks she knew exactly what that was from her earlier days, and it was not the big, butterscotch lab that was her buddy at Dan’s house. She was also a feline heat-seeking missile, lying atop the furnace, the computer modem, printer and hard drive, and availing herself of any sunny spots throughout the house which she would follow like a rotating solar panel. She accordingly also loved burrowing into cozy blankets, comforters, the linen closet, and even the kitchen cabinet drawer with the hand towels (!) When we would find her in one of these spots she would scowl at us and give an indignant, sharp little meow that was clearly feline for DO NOT DISTURB, but never once did she try to scratch us. And Lordy did she ever love cardboard boxes! Sitting on top of them, crawling inside, using them as lairs, sleeping in them, you name it — she was a cardboard magnet! All in all, she was quite simply the perfect little cat!
Life Lessons:
It’s amazing what a tiny little ball of fur can teach you. I think we could all benefit by incorporating more of the wonderful characteristics she consistently displayed: kindness, trust, loyalty, curiosity galore, forgiveness and playfulness, just to name a few.
But I think the most important thing I learned is to ALWAYS accept every gift of affection from your pet, and pay it back double. Sherman would never miss a chance to come over to me while I was tying my shoes and do that cat head-butting thing against my fingers and hands, looking for affection. I always responded by giving her a good dose of affection and sweet-talking, but was usually in a rush to go somewhere, so didn’t give her as much as she surely would have liked. Now I see what precious opportunities I was only half-realizing. Such sweet little gestures are the best memories I have of Sherman. She wasn’t looking for food or any other material thing – she was simply offering me her love and looking for some in return.
Charles Dickens understood.
Here is a “small” selection of the thousand plus photos we took of our sweet, fun, beautiful Sherman (I had a HARD time whittling it down to these, I wish it was appropriate to post 50 photos!):
Please love your pet(s) (and your “peoples”) full throttle — they deserve it, and you’ll never regret it. Also please consider adopting from, or donating to your local animal rescue organization so that all neglected/abandoned pets can receive the love they deserve. If you don’t know of one in your area, you can donate to a lovely non-profit, no-kill facility near me, in memory of Sherman (my wife used to volunteer at this place, which is called ARF).