Fond Memories of Chloe (1999-2011)

There comes a point in life where you have a loss, but fortunately there are fond memories with that loss that make it more gentle to deal with.  Such was the case with the recent loss of our cat Chloe on January 30th.  Chloe was a special pet to us, and especially to Barb since he was originally her birthday present.  So, today, I want to tell his story in his memory.

It was in Tampa back in April 1999 when a co-worker of mine, a lady who worked in the accounting department of our company by the name of Shielda, mentioned she had some kittens she needed to find homes for. The kittens - there were 3 white ones and a tiger-striped gray tabby - were at that point about 5 weeks old and were barely weened from their mama at that point.  Barb had always wanted a white cat, and being her birthday was close at hand I decided to surprise her by getting one of Shielda's little white kittens for her. Shielda had brought the babies in the back of her truck to work, and she told me I could take my pick of them, and the one I chose was one of the three white ones she had.  Being it was at work still that day, I had to put the little tyke in a box and carry him over to Barb's office, which was approximately 5 blocks away.  He was not happy about it, and to this day I still have a small scar on my hand where he nailed me through the box!  However, it was all worth it when Barb saw him, as she fell in love with him almost immediately.  So, that day he came home with us.

Now, as far as determining the gender of a cat, it's a little hard to do that when they are little, so we assumed it was a girl and so Barb commenced thinking of a name for the kitten and came up with Chloe.  A couple of weeks later, my mother comes over for a weekend visit, and in her "wisdom" she christens the kitten a girl as well, so Chloe stuck as a name.  However, a month or so later, as the cat was walking through the house, I noticed something odd - Chloe did not quite appear to be a girl!  So, I exclaimed to my wife, 'Honey, Chloe has balls!" which of course got an interesting response.  Barbara vowed to never again let Mom determine the sex of any of our pets after that one!  And, since he already had the name, we kept it Chloe, and he seemed happy with that.

As mentioned, Barb fell in love with Chloe, and he became without a doubt her cat.  She babied him like a child, even taking him to the bathroom with her, and he got to be a very spoiled cat fast!  And, although he was an energetic kitten, he soon mellowed into an easy-going, loveable gentle cat with a variety of nicknames - we called him Chlo-Chlo, the Snowbeast, the White Baboon, Butterpuff, among others, over the years.  When he was still only a few months old though, we had a bit of a scare with him, and that almost lost him for us.

At that time, we lived on the third-floor balcony of a high-rise apartment building in St. Petersburg, FL, and we had a sunporch/balcony that our cats loved to go out on but it had no screens.  One day, Chloe got a little too adventurous and ventured out too far, and he fell off the balcony!  It was quite a scare, and we were pretty sure we lost him.  However, we kept hearing a tiny "Mew!" on the roof below, and sure enough, Chloe was down there.  A maintenance man in our building helped get him down, and fortunately he was no worse for the wear.  And, Barb babied him even more.

In due time though, being Chloe was our only cat then, he was getting a little lonely, and Barb figured he needed some company, so in October 2001 for my birthday Barb got me a little black-and-white tuxedo female kitten I named Oreo, and she and Chloe became soulmates, later giving birth to their first litter of kittens together on April 2nd, 2002.   One of those kittens, a rare Snoeshoe Siamese, we kept and named Peaches.  Peaches was a unique cat too, but we lost him to kidney trouble in November 2008, which too was a huge loss.   Chloe would father many more kittens up to late 2003, and then we got him neutered and his baby-making days were over.  He then got more mellow and lazy as he got older, although he always did have that frisky playful streak in him up until the end. 

Bottom line, Chloe was a special cat, and he gave us many years of pleasure and joy.  He was loveable, mellow, yet still always up for a play on his catstand, and he was honestly a real blessing.  I was preparing for the day he might be taken by the Lord from us, but even though I had accepted that realization, it is still a bit of a shock even now.  It is more so considering how he passed away - last week Saturday he was fine in the morning, and then he was unable to walk that afternoon.  With some intense swelling in his legs, and a shortness of circulation, we suspect he may have had heart failure.  He passed away, peacefully in his sleep, a week ago today, and we laid him to rest under an oak tree in our backyard.  I know some people may theologically disagree with me on this, but I personally feel animals can be in heaven, and one day may see him again.  And, although he is greatly missed - he was a very integral part of our lives for 12 years - I am thankful to God that he showed mercy on Chloe and let him pass peacefully at home.  So, my dear little Snowbeast, rest in peace, and we will always love you.