What a special cat Bijou was. He was a beige, cautious, little kitten first I heard of him. It was early spring couple years ago.

My mother called from the kitchen "There's a beige kitten over at Bobby's." Bobby is our next door neighbor. I went outside to see but the shy kitten was already gone. Weeks maybe months later I finally got a glimpse of him. He darted around the neighborhood and avoided us at first. He was hesitant and cautious of any humans.

Slowly we convinced him with some chicken and we became fast friends. Before we knew him he was reffered to as "The Beige Kitten". I chose the name Bijou because it's similar to beige. He was everything you wanted in a pet. Affectionate - he would bump his head on your forehead and chin when you came home. He was funny - He would watch TV and make expressions (He ran when Gary Busey came on TV one day), gentle - I remember when this baby kitten came to visit us Bijou wanted to play with it so badly but he gave one little pat and the kitten stumbled. Bijou realized he was too big to play with it and accepted just observing it). Lovable - he brought so much laughter and joy into our lives in such a short amount of time. He was such fun to be around. He really loved just being alive and seeing what life had to offer. About 3 weeks ago he started throwing up his meals. I thought it was just a hairball at first. But the hairball medicine didn't help. We took him to the vet to get xrays. The news was bad. Bijou had tumors in his chest blocking off his throat making it impossible for him to swallow anything but liquids. The tumors were cancerous and it was spreading fast. He couldn't even take a deep breath because his lungs were overtaken by the tumors. The happy content look was no longer in Bijou's face and eyes. He couldn't sit in the tree and watch the birds anymore. He could barely do anything without getting short of breath. He looked in pain. He wasn't the Bijou we knew. My mom and I knew the humane thing to do. We said our goodbyes which was one of the most difficult things I've ever had to do. He was put to sleep at 4 pm April 24th 2007. I am still going through the grieving process the rainbow bridge poem really comforted me. Everywhere I look there are fond memories of Bijou all over my home. I can think of something funny he used to do all the time it hurts but it also still makes me smile through the tears and I know I'm blessed to have known Bijou. He made such a huge diffrence around here like a a ray of light. To know him was to love him. We'll meet again Bijou I know we will I miss you so much.