Goodbye Sweet Girl Tutz

We lost our cat Tutz today. She got ill late Saturday night and rapidly declined to the point where our vet made the gentle suggestion today that we put an end to the suffering. It was awful and of course both Craig and I cried. It was hard for me not to think about the fact that I'm going to have to do the same thing soon for Cody, which probably made things worse. It was very quick and the vet was so kind but there's no getting away from the fact that the deed itself is just God awful.

She was only 12 (the same age that our other cat Frank died) so I'm a bit paranoid about why she passed so young but whatever it was was quick and catastrophic. A stroke or blood clot maybe he said. We brought her body home and buried her next to Frank. Jack helped with that.

I never did tell her story on here, like I did with Frank and Cody. I feel bad about that now but life just gets so busy and you always think you have time.

We got her at our neighbourhood supermarket! In 2000 we were shopping at a local Krogers and they announced on the speaker system that they had found a kitten in the toy section and was there anybody in the store that could take it to a vet or rescue place. They gave her to us in a polystyrene cooler and I remember the young cashier telling us that we needn't take the cooler back. She's the assistant manager of the store now and I still see her every week. My friend Sue just arrived from England for a visit and I have a picture somewhere of her holding Tutz, who was just 6 weeks old and fit in one of those big pint glasses with a handle on the side. She was a feral cat and throughout her whole life she was terrified of people but she would sometimes come and sit next to you if all was quiet.

Her defining character was that she was a sweet girl, with a tender heart. She didn't like noise or being handled too much but she loved to sit next to you and she'd purr her little head off when you tickled her chin. I'm going to miss her a lot and it's very sad that our two cats, Frank & Tutz, that started this "Great American Adventure" with us, have now passed away.

RIP Tutzy Girl
2000-2012