My friend Chuck Rucker's Eulogy to his cat Buffy

I took my friend Chuck's good words and condensed and re-wrote them somewhat. CB

My cat Buffy was blue-eyed, nineteen pounds, and just over eleven years of age. Yesterday, I had to have him put to sleep. That morning at 6:00AM he came up on my bed to wake me with a long soft purr. This was unusual since it is usually the province of my other cat, M.C. to wake me.

My wife said she’d seen Buffy stretched out on the shower floor in the wee hours. Buffy had also stopped some of his routines lately, like jumping up onto the sink for his combing, and lounging in my lap while we watched TV in the evening. He started drinking from his water dish in full recline position. A real sign that he was unwell was the urinating on the front door entry rug and a dry nose.

Buffy was a “second thought” cat. I had already agreed to take one of my employee’s litter; M.C. (which stands for Mexican Connection because he crossed the Mexican/U.S. border without papers). But a customer asked about posting a notice for a litter she was giving away that had blue eyes. Thus came wee blue-eyed Buffy to our house eleven years ago. His whole litter had been tossed out on the highway near the airport, so he had scaredy cat syndrome. Any noise would send him scurrying under our bed.
That bed was his sanctuary for years. Only recently did he like to lay by the sliding door of a sunny morning, as well as stand by my feet when I put on my shoes to start my day. The last few years he decided that the TV room was HIS. He would try to chase M.C. out.

He seldom meowed, but he had a pronounced vibrational purr.

I am sad today.

Goodbye my feline friend. I will miss you very much.
Chuck Rucker