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7:42 a.m. - 07/22/2008
An old man who's young at heart
So yesterday my mother took our oldest cat Smokey to the vet and found out that although his heart isn't what it used to be he's in great shape. I think it's because he's so young at heart. He's about 19 years old and still going strong. You can take a look at him and see how frail his body is and he walks with a slight limp. So much so that you're scared to touch him or hold him too hard because it seems like you would break him. But then he'll do something like make a leap onto something high or do a limping sprint chasing after something and you cna't help but smile. He also purrs all the time. I was worried that it was because he was in pain because sometimes cats purr when they are, but the vet assured us that he's not, he's just a happy old man. His teeth have almost all fallen out, but he still makes efforts to eat dry food instead of the canned food we feed him because he likes it so much. All of our other cats who we had when my brother and I were kids (and by kids I mean like 6, right when we moved back from Germany, we got Marshmellow when I was 14) died, and the strange thing about it is that they were all younger than Smokey by about 2 years, but he was always the one who was young at heart. He would always play wiht the toys my mom gave them for Christmas as opposed to Ginger Vessy and Leo who would turn their noses up at them. He also always loved kittens. When we got Marshmellow Smokey bonded with her rihgt away and would play with her toys with her while the other 3 ignored her. Same thing when we got all of those other cats, he was always so friendly with them. And even now with the kitten that was left on our doorstep last August who (my mom so cleverly named little boosy) the two of them are inseparable. It's so cute to see a kitten and a geriatric cat sleeping together, eating off of the same plate, drinking water together, chasing toys together.
Smokey was originally designated as my brother's cat simply because he was a boy and kids tend to be gender biased like that, but around middle school, he grew very attached to me, and thus became my cat. When he went to the vet I was the only one who could calm him down. Even after I went away to college my mom would have to call me and the sound of my voice over the phone would soothe him. So I couldn't be happier to hear about his good state of health. I guess there's something to be said for being young at heart.
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