by Tabs Mc
When I got Kuro a couple of years ago he was a real scaredy cat. Every noise and every motion terrified him. It took months before he would sit on the couch or be held. There was no way he'd cuddle up in bed!
I moved into a flat by myself and on the very first night there he jumped up onto the bed and tried to climb under the doona! His personality changed completely and he became very affectionate and friendly. It must have been the ex-flatmate that had made him such a scaredy!
Over the next year we lived happily together. He was an indoor-only cat but I started to take him for midnight walks on a leash. He loved these.
When I moved into a house with a large garden in a very quiet street I started letting him outside in the daytime. He loved nothing more than to lie amongst the shrubs at the front of the house.
The last time I saw him alive he was rolling on his back in some dirt on the concrete, attacking some string that was hanging down. He was totally happy, content and playful.
When I got home that afternoon he was dead by the side of the road in front of the house. I don't know why he went out onto the road, especially whilst it was light. I imagine he was chasing away some "enemy cats" and timed his crossing badly.
Poor Kuro. He was a happy boy and his personality was growing all the time. That morning he had woken me by chewing on my elbow and then sitting next to my head while I patted and scratched him. I was thinking then that I should brush him as I hadn't in a while and he loved it so. I regret that I didn't get a chance to brush him before he died but other than that I know he he had a good, happy life and there is nothing else to regret.