Maestro

In 2004, mom decided that the resident cat needed a friend. She went to the local shelter and brought home an 8 week old little gray and white bundle of fuzz and named him Maestro after her love of music.

When mom moved out, Maestro and Butterscotch came to live with her. They moved with her several times through several states.

Butterscotch left us for the Bridge in October 2008.

Maestro turned 19 years old last September. He was the elder statesman of the household. Never complaining too loudly, never really making a fuss about much of anything (except maybe the occasional empty food dish). He was sweet and understanding and just wanted a lap to sit on. He never met a stranger and was really only afraid of the vaccuum cleaner. He moved over several state lines with mom and tolerated every new cat that came in the house along with the hoards of foster kittens.

And now he is gone. Those decisions are never easy on pet guardians. But with the diagnosis of a cancerous tumor on his jaw, and it was spreading fast, the issue becomes is he suffering, how do we know and how long do we let him go on. Mom has gone through this before and has sworn that she will not let any of us suffer - and that means force feeding or medicating or whatever. Maestro lived a long and wonderful life with us....and now we know that he is healthy and running across the Bridge with Butterscotch and Tigger and so many others who have gone before. This is the best decision mom could make, but it doesn't make it any less heartbreaking.

We will be taking a short break from blogging. Please know we will be back - with more stories about us and the foster kittens and everything else.