Marvelous Monday - My Cat the Clown

Today is Marvelous Monday yet my heart is feeling a little broken.  This morning I took my little clown cat "Kroompli" in to the vet and had to make the difficult decision to say good-bye to him forever.

Kroompli stalks our Roomba

We have been growing increasingly worried about Kroompli for the last month.  At first we thought maybe he was upset that Tiger (our shop cat who was a stranger to our house cats) was living in our sunroom.  Perhaps this is why his stomach seemed to be upset.  Then we thought it was because the little beggar managed to sneak into the mudroom where we keep our dog food and had a huge feast of dog food.  Surely that would be the reason why he suddenly had severe diarrhea and an upset tummy.  We took him to the vet a month ago and they confirmed after thoroughly examining the 18 pound monster that the dog food was probably the problem.

Kroompli investigates my flowers.

But then Kroompli began to lose weight. This cat who would eat anything became a very finicky eater. I tried different types of food and he seemed to perk up. But this past weekend, he suddenly took a big turn for the worse ... became very lethargic and looked like he was in a lot of pain. My husband and I checked him closely all over and felt what seemed to be a hard lump on his side. I took him to the vet first thing this morning and was told he has a cancerous mass on his stomach. It has appeared so rapidly that the vet feels it is an aggressive form of cancer. It was very obvious that he was in terrible pain so I made the decision to take care of him one last time by ending his misery.

Kroompli comes for a snuggle.

So today, on Marvelous Monday, though I am in tears, I am celebrating the life of a very loving pet who gave us so much joy over the 8 and a half years of his life.  Kroompli was born to my mother's cat "Button" on March 22, 2002 - one of 5 of Button's first and only litter.  He was such a sweet little kitten when he was born - all black and white patches, with his little ears folded down and his eyes shut.  He was the runt of the litter and right away I knew I would take him.  When he was 7 weeks old, we took him home and he quickly made himself at home, not only in our house, but in our hearts.  I gave him a Hungarian name "Kroompli" (meaning potato) in the hopes of ensuring that my husband, who is of Hungarian descent, would be happy that I was bringing home yet another kitten.  We were newly weds at the time but if I had known my husband better, I would have realized that it was a completely unnecessary gesture.  My husband absolutely loves cats and he and Kroompli became the very best of friends.

Kroompli loved his basket.

The runt of the litter grew fast!  Kroompli became a ginormous cat - the biggest cat we've ever had.  And what a clown!  He was an extremely playful cat who loved to lie on his back with his paws waving around in the air, begging to have his tummy rubbed.  He loved food, especially people food, and delighted in pushing his big nose into our cereal bowls in the morning, hoping to slurp up some milk and possibly some cereal too.  Kroompli loved to be snuggled and if he felt it was time for his cuddle, he would climb up on top of my computer and look at me with his beautiful big green eyes as if to say "Hello!!!  I'm much cuter than that stupid machine!"  And of course, he was much cuter, so I would stop whatever I was doing and scoop him up off of the computer and into my arms for a cuddle.  And he would look up at me with those flirtatious green eyes even as I was cuddling him, as if he was smugly acknowledging that he had me wrapped around his paw, and I would always do his bidding.

Kroompli discovers our wide-screen TV

Kroompli, annoyed that I won't let him eat the gingerbread house.

Kroompli poses as a Christmas ornament.

It's hard to imagine all that personality and life can simply end in one moment of time.  I can't imagine that his life is over.  This morning when I said good-bye to him, I told him that I hoped he would being seeing his brother Czardas soon - the beautiful black kitten we also adopted from his litter who later was killed on the road outside of our house.   And I said a blessing over him too - because I believe God created my little cat, and that somehow, He will find a place for him in eternity.  I hope that place is a sunny spot, where Kroompli can lie on his back, waving his paws in the air, and that someone kind and loving is there to lean over and give him a gentle tummy rub and whisper in his ear as I have done so many times, to tell him what a beautiful cat he is, and assure him that he brings joy wherever his paws take him.

Classic Kroompli pose - begging for tummy rub.