He was one out of a few kittens left from a litter that was found abandoned, he already had the name Monster.

He was a very spicy kitten. I remember friends being excited that I had a kitten and coming over to see him and giving the disclaimer that he was not your average kitten and that he was a bit spicy. He hissed and swatted a lot like a feral kitten. He would climb all over me too.

He was fully declawed once he was old enough to be at the Animal Clinic of North Topeka and that was also his vet for most of his life.

When I first got him my grandparents wanted him to stay in the room for a bit till he got bigger. When I would leave the room he would cry at the door for me. I remember one night I was in the living room playing my Wii and he was meowing a lot at the door for me.

As a young kitten/cat he loved playing with plastic bags and wand toys but he wasn't very interested in many toys.

He would sleep at my head and did this his whole life.

Sometimes if he would see me open my eyes after sleeping, and then close them again, he would bat at my eyes.

My grandma would like putting him on a leash and harness and taking him outside to lay in the sun.

He liked laying on her lap a lot and getting petted.

He would get on things he wasn't supposed to a lot when he was younger, one time he got on the TV and knocked over one of grandma's flower vases and it spilled water into the TV and fried it. He would also get on my dresser and chomped at a bunch of dried flowers I had there one time.

When he was young he would join me in the bathroom when I would take showers and would climb onto the ledge of the tub in the shower.

After I moved out whenever I would come visit, almost weekly, he would get zoomies as soon as he would see me.

He loved smelling and rolling around on sandals.

He's always loved getting into closets and laying in baskets. One time my grandma accidentally shut him in her closet and couldn't find him for a long time. He continued hiding in closets all of his life.

I moved him from my grandparents house to live with me in 2015.

He got out of the trailer several times but thankfully never got hurt and always came back. He liked going under the trailer and laying around. He never went far and there were multiple times he would sneak outside and someone would chase after him to bring him back.

He loved laying around on his back with his belly up and legs spread, mostly in the sun.

Sometimes he would bite and play with my hair.

Sometimes he would get on the counters, one time I was eating toast and reading and he jumped up and started eating my toast. He would also lay in the dish drain.

He liked laying in the hallway, a roommate one time got "stuck" in the hallway because he didn't know how to walk past Monster laying there. Monster would like to grab at people as they walked by.

When one of my roommates was unpacking when she moved in, Monster came into her room and was playing in the hangers and got stuck in one and just laid there with it on him.

Whenever I was doing something he would jump up onto the table and lay down and knock everything I was doing off, he loved doing this whenever I was making art.

One of my roommates gave him a bath once.

One time I got a little lion hood for him but he did not like wearing it.

Shortly after moving him out of my grandmas he stopped wearing his collar, he would take it off so I stopped trying to keep it on.

In 2017 he went to Stone House Animal Hospital for an emergency appointment because of a kidney/bladder infection, that was his one and only emergency visit until the cancer.

He loved head scratches, behind the ear, on his cheek, and his chin. I would cup his head and scratch his cheek and he would lean into my hand and rub his head.

He loved waking me up if I wasn't awake when he wanted me to be so he would get obnoxious until I would get up. One time he really wanted me to wake up and feed him so he brought me his food scoop. He eventually bit it up to where it wasn't usable.

One 4th of July he got out and I was so worried about him being outside because of the fireworks but I found him later just curled up and laying on van seats that he had sitting in the yard.

Flea collars and drops would cause him to loose fur so he'd get bald patches around his neck from them.

I found Blonders a month before I moved out of the trailer, he was very put off by Blonders and stayed away from him for a long time but eventually they coexisted. They never got to cuddle status but they would lay next to each other.

Because he was declawed sometimes he would rub the fur from his temples from scratching too much.

He was always a very clean kitty and groomed himself a lot, he had very soft fur, softer than any other cat I've known.

Moved into a new house in 2017 and he actually loved using the stairs and would go up and down the stairs multiple times a day. He liked hanging out by the top of the stairs and reaching out with his paw and batting you coming up the stairs.

He did sneak into the attic once and I had to catch him, he also snuck into the basement at least once and the garage a few times.

He would sometimes lay in the bathroom sink both down stairs and upstairs.

He couldn't open doors well because he was declawed but Blonders could and would open closet doors for him so he could go in and hide.

He would also sneak into the roommates room and hide under the bed or in clothes.

He was a picky eater but did like tuna, sausage, and the random surprise food like toast.
But, he was really good at not eating food that was left out.

He was such a smart kitty, when I would try and play with him using a laser pointer he would eventually just go after my hand that was holding the laser.

It was also very hard for him to take pills, he would hide them in his mouth and then spit them out later. He would also eat around them in food and not eat treats with pills in them.

He didn't warm up enough to everyone but he really warmed up to Matt and would cuddle and lay on his lap also. He would lay on some other people laps too.

Since he was declawed it was hard for him to grip on the bed to jump up, so a lot of times he would jump on the side table before getting on the bed, or jump on the tv stand and then the side table and then crawl over Matt to get to me. If Matt and I switched sides on the bed he'd always get confused and usually go to my normal side first before figuring out I was on the other side.

If I was working on my laptop he would love trying to lay on my keyboard.

He loved sitting on the front porch window sill. If I was on the front porch tending to plants, he would sit there and watch me and meow at me.

He loved finding new hiding spots and sometimes would freak us out because he would find a new one that was really good. He mostly loved finding boxes to hide in, he would also hide behind the deep freezer. Most of the time if I couldn't find him he was under the bed or in a basket.

In 2018 I had a pet sitter while I went to TEIC, he accidentally got out and she didn't notice so when I came home I couldn't find him. Spent most of the Sunday looking for him outside. Eventually found him by shaking treats in the back yard and he chirped, he was laying under the deck.

He loved laying in bed with me and would let me wrap my arms around him and hold him, he also loved laying on me and wrapping himself around my neck, he would also lay with Matt and lay on him too.

He loved sitting in my lap, if I was down stairs and people were there he would sneak over to me to lay in my lap, but eventually get annoyed with the people and leave, just to come back moments later and do it again.

When I would pick him up he would stretch out his arms to wrap around my next, he loved it when I would pick him up and hold him.

He had very loud purrs and would purr often, sometimes both purring and growling at the same time.

He was spicy his whole life and would bite a lot, use his paw to grab and then chomp. I got very good at knowing when he was triggered to prevent this.

If he wasn't hiding he was almost always where ever I was

If there was a thunderstorm coming and he was scared he would hide behind the toilet.

He didn't really like pet beds but loved laying in clothes baskets.

He liked sitting on the bench in the bathroom window.

He liked going into the bathroom with me in general and would always try not to leave by hiding behind the door hoping I would leave and shut it without seeing him.

He loved laying on a pillow that I sat out for him on a trunk in the upstairs window.

When he walked he had a stomp to him so I could hear him stomping around on the wood floor.

At night if he wasn't in bed with me I would call for him and he would come lay by me.

Sometimes he went into this "baby mode" where he would kneed at me and have this high pitch kitten meow, it was almost like he was in a trance.

He would drool on my pillow a lot.

When he would lay like a loaf he would tuck in his paws under his chest and close his eyes real tight.

He liked getting on the table when we would play games

In 2022 he visited the Animal Care Center of Topeka for a regular check up and shots, there was also a fatty lump he had on his back left side but it was soft and the vet wasn't concerned about it. As he lost weight later it went away.

He had a prodromal pooch and was rather large most of his life

Early 2025 we got him a 3 tiered kitty condo with it's own litter box and he liked it.

He stopped eating for a few days so 3/31/25 we went for a check up at the Animal Clinic of North Topeka, they found lumps around his stomach area and did an ultrasound. He was diagnosed with Gastrointestinal lymphoma. He got a steroids shot that helped him move around and eat.

We switched him to wet food, lots of treats, and a high calorie gel meal, he was eating and moving around ok for a few days.

Friday 4/4/25 was a really good day for him, he was wondering around, jumping onto the bed, and couch, on me, we had really good hopes he could maybe get treatment.

Monday 4/7/25 I came upstairs and he had left his kitty condo and jumped onto his pillow to look out the window. I thought maybe him moving around like that on his own was good and he was getting better but his appetite had declined again.

4/8/25 we went back to the vet with concerns about his eating, they gave him an appetite stimulant and after a few hours he did eat a little bit.
Shortly before 9pm Matt went to check on him and he tried to stand up and fell, he was breathing heavily. Matt came and got me to look at him.
He had wet himself so I wrapped him in a towel and took him downstairs to clean him off in the shower.
He was breathing very heavy and Matt called the Emergency Animal Clinic of Topeka.
I wrapped him in a dry towel and we left the house at 9:24.
After a few moments they came outside to let me and Monster into a private room and checked us in.
A few moments after they left he took his last breath while I was holding him, a few moments before 10pm.
They came back to the room a few moments later to say they were ready for his euthanasia, I told them I think he was already gone.
The lady checked his heart and said that "he has his wings. How sweet you were holding him in your arms"
She left and gave me a few moments with him, I held him and cried.
They gave me paw prints, a boop print, and some fur clippings. One of the paw prints is spread out, it's one of his back paws.
At 10:30 we arrived back home without Monster.

4/15/25 it's been one week without you and this still hurts. The day after you passed was my first day, in my adult life, without you existing here and it was so much to take in. It has been hard noticing the habits in my day to day that were focused on you. Waking up during the night and not calling for you to come snuggle, waking up in the morning to you not being at my head, going to the bathroom and not having you follow me in and trying to hide, checking baskets and not finding you, hearing a noise and knowing that it's not you, and so much more. I finally washed the towel that you were wrapped in when you passed, when I took it out of the bag it had fur on it that I kept, I folded it up and set it on your kitty condo. The vet sent a sympathy card I received yesterday, it included a poem I really liked "They will not go quietly, the pets who've shared our lives. In subtle ways they let us know their spirit still survives. Old habits still can make us think we hear them at the door, or step back when we drop a tasty morsel on the floor. Our feet still go around the place the food dish used to be, And, sometimes, coming home at night, we miss them terribly. And although time may bring new friends and a new food dish to fill, That one place in our hearts belongs to them...and always will."

4/17/25 You came back home to us, in a different way but it's still you. It was very hard going back to the place to get you, but everyone there had such kind words to say. We also got a paw print casting. We thought it was cute how they labeled everything with "Monster Jones".

5/8/25 It's been a month since you've left and I still haven't told my family, I still cry, I still think you're here until I remember, I still dread 10pm coming, I still say your name just because I miss saying it. Today I poured food in your bowl because I just needed to, I'm sure Blonders will appreciate the extra scoop.
I went to a Pet Loss Support Group on Tuesday, it felt good to hear stories from others and to share my memories and experience. I didn't expect to be as choked up as I was. Monster you're still loved by us, we miss you.