Neva

Dear Kitty Cottage,

We adopted Neva a little over four years ago, in August of 2007. He was 10 years old at the time and had been with you for over a year. No one seemed to want to give him a chance because he was older, overweight and not extremely outgoing, but we decided he was the right cat for us.

            The day we brought Neva home he walked right out of his carrier, scoped out the place a little and found himself at home on my Mom’s bed. He was reserved. He didn’t crave human attention and affection like some other cats do, but he was part of the family instantly.

            It didn’t take long for Neva to start showing his personality. He would scream at my Mom to feed him at the most inconvenient times (usually about 4 am). Since he was around 30 lbs when we got him, he had some trouble engaging in typical cat-like behavior. We had ottomans throughout the house to help him get up onto all of the furniture that he loved. He had no problem marching down the hallway after using the litter box, only to collapse at my Mom’s feet and stick his leg straight up in the air so she could clean his large behind with a baby wipe. He also loved sitting on the patio and laying in the sunshine, watching all the birds fly by. Neva was always such a good boy; he never tried to chase the birds or leave the patio. He just liked being outside. Before long he was screaming at us to be let outside too.

            So many laughs were had as we would watch Neva try to scratch behind his ears, only to see his leg flailing in one failed attempt after another. He was just too big to reach, so after we got our laughs out we would scratch his ears to his heart's content. I still remember the day, no more than a year ago, when we saw that Neva could finally scratch his own ears! He even started biting his own toenails. This was a proud moment for us, but also a sad one. As our time with Neva went on we saw him slowing losing weight. This was the final realization that he was getting old.

            In August of 2011 we noticed a lump on his jaw and were saddened to hear that it was indeed cancer. With Neva’s age and the type of oral cancer he had the doctor recommended we spoil him and make sure that Neva got everything he wanted because our time together was running short. It wasn’t long before the glimmer in Neva’s eyes started to fade. He didn’t wake us up at random hours of the night to be fed and didn’t eat much when it was given to him, either.

It is so hard to know, without doubt, when the right time to say goodbye is. Today we put Neva to sleep. He isn’t in pain anymore. Neva brought so much joy into our lives and our home. We had four wonderful years with Neva and we certainly believe that he feels the same about us. Still, the feeling of loss is great. We just want to thank you for letting us adopt Neva. Perhaps, when the time is right, we will contact you again, to find another unwanted kitty who needs a forever home.

Thank you,

Cortney, Cassie and John

R.I.P. Neva      07/05/97-10/10/11