The Story of Dylan

Dylan was born on February 24, 1998. In July of that year my ex and I were driving around looking for a house to buy. We found one that he loved from the outside but it had an "under contract" sign. It also had a sign that read "6 month old purebred Maine Coon cat needs home." My ex really wanted to see the inside of the house and I wanted the cat so I told him if we adopted the cat we would have an "in" to get inside and see the house. So we saw the house and left with Dylan in my arms. It was a very rainy day and I remember the car flooded and on the way back to our apartment I had to hold Dylan and hold my feet up off the floor because of the water sloshing around.

Dylan came home to a small apartment occupied by me, the ex, Gracie (who died in my arms on December 17, 2004) and Sonny (who is now 18 and still going strong). He was immediately at home and immediately the sweetest boy who only wanted to love.

He lived through moving to our newly purchased house and then becoming an inside cat because the street traffic on this street is too bad to have an outside cat. He lived through a traumatic divorce. Every now and then he would find a way to sneak out and he was a killing machine! Sonny would go out and sit and touch noses with squirrels and moles and mice but Dylan would go out and I would wake in the morning to bloody rodent parts on my welcome mat!

Dylan could never stand it when I had a knitting project. He would get on my lap gradually and then nudge my hands so that knitting was impossible and I was forced to put it down and love on him for hours.

But Dyl was (is) a purebred and a purebred anything has medical and physical problems and Dylan has never been a healthy robust cat the way my mixed strays have been. I feel so fortunate that in the past 5 years I have had the means to make sure he has excellent and regular veterinary care but if you are thinking of some kind of special purebred cat please know they are bred according to demand. There are a lot of cats who don't have a pedigree who are wandering around needing homes and they will cost you much less because they don't have the weird medical problems. I know. I have three right now and they are just as wonderful as Dylan.

Dylan went to Japan y'all! He lived in Japan for 8 months with me and he kind of liked it but he was so glad to get back to his furniture in the US.

Dylan has been in a decline for the past year. We could even say 2 years. Tonight I called and I made the appointment to put him down tomorrow. I was fine on the phone. I have given this constant thought for the week I have been home and I know it is the only and the right thing to do. I am sure. And Pam, the receptionist at the vet, broke down and cried and could not get herself together and then I lost it. Bless them all at the vet - they know all my babies so well but I had no idea.

Dyl will go off to the Rainbow Bridge around 11 or 11:30 tommorrow morning EST. If you think about it say a little prayer. I hope (I am pretty sure) they will let me hold him through it so I can tell him at the end to kiss Boo and Gracie and Sophie and Zack and Bruiser and Cobber and Tarbaby and Casey and Chanel and Elizabeth and Frank and Gillian and Amanda and Bangs and Phil and Bacchus and all the freaking kittens I have nursed who didn't make it long enough to even open their eyes even though the effort was worth every minute.

Wow. Letting an animal own you for a while is so worth it.