Boots 2006- 2010
Boots was a sweet natured little cat that I had the priviledge of spending about 18 months with him. He was undernourished, and had a very hard life in the first year or so of his life. He even had to deal with a harsh winter in 2007, surviving as best as he could at the campground where we found him. He was a sweet little American Shorthair with unique markings,and a pretty white face and paws, and perhaps that's why he was called "Boots".
He loved to chase the chippies and sit on the high rock wall overlooking his domain,(see picture)like some miniature lion king.

When he was well, he used to sit on the computer room window and look
out at the birds and squirrels and sometimes he would sleep on the
printer. He loved to hear me play guitar and even would jump up and
"play some strings" with his teeth. He got accustomed to walking with a leash and we went everywhere together around the eighbourhood.
He was friendly to people and dogs alike and people were amazed at
that.

I'm glad that we took the opportunity to spend May through August of
2009 at campground lake, because little did I know, that he would succumb to chronic kidney failure (CRF) and not be able to go there again this summer, or lie on my picnic table that I especially built for him in my back yard last fall.

This little cat taught me the meaning of deep compassion and enduring love which he reciprocated to me. It didn't matter that he was a cat and I was his human friend, although he never really belonged to me, I am so very thankful that I managed to find the time to spend with him while he was here on this earth.
Maybe he was Some kind of messenger...I don't know. Whatever the meaning was, he was real and he was loved and the summer of 2009 was the sweetest days of my life when I spent that entire summer with him at the lake. Little did I know then, that those days would
never be repeated for him and for me to spend that precious time together.

As I watched this little cat get weaker and weaker day by day,and not eating much of anything, and throwing up, almost every day it seemed. He clung to life desperately even though it was a losing battle. Out of this personal tragedy for me, at least we had the time together so I could tell him how much I loved him and I tried to comfort him. I tried to tell him in his desperate fight to survive that he was not alone,that he was loved. I was right there with him and feeling his pain and I shed a lot of tears and went through a lot of tissues. You know, it's one thing when
death occurs quickly, but another matter entirely when it's a slow process..That is probably the hardest to take both for the victims and those who love them.

I think that somehow he knew that his time was near. I felt so bad not be able to help him in this terminal disease that he had, and it was only a matter of time.

One thing that this little cat has taught me as he clung desparately to life, is that as long as you have an ounce of strength left in you and a will to carry on,

Although towards the end, his body was weakened and emaciated, his will to live was still there with him and I felt it. I just couldn't take that away from him by the decision that I would eventually have to make on his behalf, because he meant so much to me, more than I realized, as we had bonded together in the short time that was allowed for us to do so.

Everything happens for a reason,I suppose, but I just don't know the reason right now that he had to be taken from me so early in his life. This started me thinking about how it would be for me In the last days of my life that still lie ahead.

Goodbye my sweet little Prince May you find eternal peace in
Cat Heaven. I will always love you and miss you in my remaining days of my life.

For Boots

Feelings, nothing more than feelings
It so hard to forget the empty place in my heart
Teardrops rolling down on my face
It so hard to forget these feelings of love

Feelings, for all my life I will feel it
I so glad that I met you, Boots
You'll never come again
Feelings, feelings
To feel you purring in my arms again

Feelings, feelings like I never thought I lose you
And feelings like I'll never have you again by my side

Feelings, for all my life I'll feel it
In my life, you will never come again

Feelings, feelings like I always miss you
And feelings like I'll never have you again in my life

Thank you Boots, for being my friend, and thank you for spending those precious days with me, I will never forget you.

Daniel