| Stewart was the first cat to be solidly mine. We picked him up as a little tiny kitten at Marmon Valley Farms, where Kari worked at the time. I had been wanting a gray cat with green eyes for a long time, and we actually saw one, and it was a big pain to catch him! Peaches took a long time to adjust to the presence of the other cat. I originally named him Buttons, but Kari vetoed the idea and called him Stewart Little. The name stuck. He was very wimpy and afraid of everything, including Christmas lights. His nicknames included "Sphinx," "Prince," "Stupid," "Stew" or "Stewie," "Baby," "Purr," "Iddle boy" or "Boyos," and a variety of other cutsey things I'd call him for no good reason. During the last year, he slept with me every single night. He was completely idiodic, overly fond of eating things he shouldn't have been eating such as string, tinsel, and whatever food I happened to be eating. He was excessively fat and would aggressively eat anything, going so far as to take it out of your mouth if he could reach it and it was within sight. He was very affectionate, though, and a warm little ball of fur to curl up with. When he was younger, he liked to sit on the desk close to the computer and watch what I was doing, sometimes batting after the characters when I'd play arcade games. He was a good hunter and actually, once he got used to them, got along with both Abby and Peaches, sleeping on the back porch with Abby from time to time. In late 2004, Stewart stopped eating, lost half his body weight, and became extremely lethargic for reasons no one could fathom. Although the vet tried hydrating him and stuff, there wasn't anything to be done without X-rays or anything, and he died on December 11th of 2004, the last pet standing in the house. |