Jack was a cat from the neighborhood that would visit our house every so often. All cats have their own distinct personalities but this one was just a complete joy. He would come over for visits every couple of weeks and we enjoyed his company. One day during a n'easter we found him crying at the door. We let him in and he stayed the night. That winter he spent a lot of time at our house but we were always worried that his owner would be looking for him. Eventually we realized that he must be a stray and we adopted him into the family.
So, he needed a name now. Iniatially we thought that he was a female since he was heavyset one month and thinner the next. Charlie and Matilda were our choices. Regardless of the name, it was amazing how attached we got to him. The transformation was almost comical. He can stay in the house but we're not going to feed him. We'll feed him dry food but not wet. We'll give him wet food but we're not going to bring him to the vet.
We finally did bring him to the vet and discovered that he was a male cat. Jack it was. A little while after our first vet visit we noticed that Jack wasn't eating. We brought him back to the vet and he found a tumor on Jack's belly. The next few weeks he couldn't keep anything down and just melted away befoe our eyes. A few days after Christmas we had to have him put to sleep.
His death still seems needless to me. Why did he come into our lives just to be ripped away after only a year. And, I can't shake the feeling that his prior owners threw him out on the street after they found his disease.
So, in an effort to remember the good times, I have posted these pictures (the only four that I have). The best one is him laying on his back with his belly warming in the summer sun. It was something that he did all the time and its how I'll best remember him.