Our beloved kitty passed away tonight. Schnitzel was the best and sweetest cat on the planet. He completed our tiny family and there is a definite void without him. It tears us up that we’ll never again see his mocha-moustachioed face, hear him make that funny chirrup noise at the birds, or have him purring away between us while we watch dumb things on TV. Or how funny we thought it was to rile Schnitzel up by meowing the tune of the Barber of Seville (yeah, I don’t know how we came up with this either…). Oh, all of our in jokes. :( I’ll even miss his 5am meow alarm.

This is a painting I did of him earlier this month. One of my favorite Schnitzel memories: right as one of our parties was winding down, he trotted over to Kristy’s shoes and wore them to prevent her from leaving our apartment. Heh, he was the ultimate party host!

Watching him go like this has been heartbreaking. I hope after the shock wears off, I can look back on all our good times together without falling to pieces. Just yesterday we had a happy, affectionate cat then today, he couldn’t even function (the doctor reckons it could be anything from a stroke to a brain tumor with a burst vessel). Our poor boy spent all day in Animal ER. Dean and I made three visits to see him and held him for the last time this afternoon. On the last trip to the hospital, we got the news that he was having seizures and even if they resuscitated him thru CPR, he wouldn’t have much time left or a good quality of life in that short time. So, we said goodbye to a very sick cat who didn’t even recognize us anymore and let him go. Since then, it’s been a bottomless pit of sadness.