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R.I.P. "Monkey Man"

??? - February 19, 2005

Monk' as he came to be affectionately called, was first noticed by us last fall when he turned up at the side of a stray we'd been feeding. That stray, Mama -- as she came to be known -- gave birth to seven wee kittens just weeks later in our basement, four of which had Monkey's distinctive grey and white markings. The neighbor who claimed to have previously "owned" but had apparently forgotten him said to us at one point, "he won't have any of that neutering business..." so there was little doubt who the papa was.

Following the adopting out of the kittens and Mama's spay, we expected to see little, if anything, else of Monkey Man, but the ragged Tom cat surprised us. Mama proved to be a bit too feral to adopt out so we made the decision to release her into our back yard where we could, at the very least, keep an eye on her. That was October, and to this day it only takes the sound of a friendly voice calling out her name to bring Mama running.

But beginning just days after her release, Mama wasn't the only one who came running over when we'd call. Day in and day out, there was Monkey Man trailing two steps behind ... keeping a watchful eye on the obvious girl of his dreams; the love of his life who he'd always let enjoy dinner first.

Despite all so-called expert advice to the contrary which suggested Monk' would have no interest in Mama following her procedure, Monkey Man never left her side.

In time, Mama grew to trust us more, and even seemed to forgive us for taking her into the vet's office, but Monkey always remained a bit skittish. We couldn't convince 'em to move in so we eventually placed an electric heating pad on our back deck, which is covered, to provide Mama and her suitor with a little extra warmth as the weather got colder. It was his favorite place to sleep.

Then, a few weeks ago we noticed Monkey seemed to be having trouble with his eyesight. When we were finally able to capture the ol' boy to take him into the vet, Monk unfortunately didn't have much fight left in him. The vet disclosed he was FIV positive, blind and probably not long for this world.

So, we did what we could. Set up his favorite bed in the basement (with the heating pad), provided him with all the food and water he could want and loved him up as much as we could. Maybe it was his age, or his health, but Monk' finally grew to trust us toward the end. He'd lean in to us as we sat with him those last few days wanting as many pats as we were prepared to give.

He passed away in his sleep between Friday night and Saturday morning.

Although the time we got to spend with Monk' was brief, his grace and sweet devotion to Mama is not something I'll soon forget. He was a true gentleman. I hope the next world treats him better than this one did.

Sleep well ol' boy.