Silky was the first pet we had as a married couple. She was a stray at the apartment complex and we started feeding her. Eventually she moved in and slept on our bed every night. In March of 1991 she gave birth to 3 kittens in our closet. We decided to keep one of them, it was an easy choice. He looked just like his mom so we called him Junior.

He was like our first child. He slept with us every night, usually stretched out next to me under my arm down to my hip, or curled up behind my knees. His favorite things included getting brushed for hours, eating, and being a lap cat. He would stalk me, waiting til I sat down, just a tap on my chest and he'd jump up on me to be loved. Words can't express how much Junior loved us and we loved him. The bond we shared was incredibly deep.

We had to have Silky put to sleep in May of 1993 due to illness. She was being treated for several things including a severe skin disorder since November and she had lost nearly all of her hair and about 2 pounds, a lot for a cat of just 8 pounds. We assume she was suffering from some kind of cancer or auto-immune disorder but tests revealed nothing. She was in misery and we knew it was for the best. Junior was eventually joined by several cats. Some have had to find new homes and some have been put to sleep. We currently have Chester, another big male that we found in July of 1994 at our apartment complex. In July of 1996 we got Muffin. She had either jumped out of or was thrown from a car in front of our home, she had a severely busted chin and was very sore. Soshie joined us in November of 1996, she was found in the Walmart parking lot. Junior was our biggest cat weighing over 20lbs, Chester is close at around 18.

I noticed that Junior was making more frequent trips to the litter box but didn't give it much thought as he was getting older. We went out of town for the Thanksgiving holiday and the kids and I stayed an extra week so we were not around to notice if his symptoms worsened over the last few days. Mark was working long hours and didn't have time to watch either nor had I told him I thought something could be wrong. Mark came home on the night of Wednesday, December 1st to find Junior barely concious. He had put him in the bathroom that day because the night before Junior had been vomitting and groaning. Mark assumed he had eaten something disagreable and had not wanted him to make a mess all over the apartment while he was at work. When he found Junior he called me at my mom's wanting to know what he should do. I told him to call every vet in the book til he found an all night one.

It was assumed at that time that he had passed a kidney crystal similar to a stone only smaller and that it has become lodged in his urethra and caused urine to back up into his tissue, causing poisoning. He would have died from that if Mark had not brought him in that very hour. Over the next few days he continued to have blockages caused by blood clots from his bladder rather than crystals. This indicated a more serious problem. I visited Junior every day, never thinking he would not recover, always expecting to bring him home. On December 6th as I made my last visit to brush, pet and coddle him they told me that we might need to do some further testing to determine why his bladder would not stop bleeding. They did an ultrasound of his bladder right then and showed me how the walls had become thick with scar tissue and how it was full of blood clots and many, many tumors and cysts. Without a biopsy there is no way of knowing if they are cancerous or not, but just having them there is serious enough. They kindly suggested that we think about putting him out of his misery as the surgeries and treatments would only prolong his life for a little while and would certainly decrease the quality greatly. After a discussion with Mark we made what we believe to be the best decision for Junior's sake. We will be sad for a long time over his loss.

Junior was like a son to us, he was a joy to all who knew him. He was smart, sweet, curious, funny, loving and loyal. We will miss him dearly. WE LOVE YOU JUNIOR, YOU WILL NEVER BE FORGOTTEN!! YOU WILL LIVE IN OUR HEARTS AND SOULS FOREVER!!!!