Berfert started his trip to the bridge at a little after 3:00 PM EST.
He was not ready to go, and fought all the way, but his body just gave
up on him.  We're pretty sure that the cancer plus the pneumonia was
just too much for him to fight.

We're all pretty heart broken right now.  Mike is especially devastated,
as Berfert claimed him as the Berf's hoomin.

For those who don't know Berfert's history.

We were given Berfert as a rescue cat in September 1993.  He was about 8
weeks old at the time.  The upstairs neighbor caught her husband hurting
their little girl and grabbed the kids and got out of the house and into
protective custody.  We were asked to take care of "the kitten" for a
week.  We accepted knowing that a week was likely to stretch into forever.

Berfert approached life differently from the very beginning.  He would
climb curtains so that he could run back and forth on the curtain rods.
 He broke three sets of rods before he finally figured out that he'd
out grown them.

He loved to entertain the other cats.  His favorite playmate was
Pumpkin, Mandy's owner.  He'd get Pumpkin all wound up and chasing him
then run up the bottom side of our open stair case.  When Berf got to
the top he'd turn around and look down on Pumpkin who'd just realized
that he was hanging in space, and had stopped all momentum.  A moment
later, Berf would be laughing as Pumpkin landed on the floor.

Berf would also use the open stairs to terrify me.  He'd climb up the
bottom side of the steps so that he could hang from the steps, while I
was working on the commodore 64, so that I could see his back feet and
tail out of the corner of my eye.  It took me a long time to realize
that he was not a cat in trouble.

When we were at Rob's parent's house, looking for an apartment to rent
while Rob made his second trip to Korea, Berfert would go out into the
garden, and catch worms.  He'd then present them to Rob's mom so that
she knew he was protecting her from them.  She always thanked him very
politely, then put the worm back into the ground.  They were always
alive and wiggling when he gave them to her.

Berfert was easily traumatized.  He hated any form of travel, was
terrified of birds after seeing one commit suicide by sliding glass
door, and thought everyone was out to get him.  He loved his family but
was terrified of strangers and would hide whenever some one came over,
until he got to know them (by voice) as a regular.  Then he would come
out and visit them.

Berfert's biggest vice, other than terrifying the family for fun and
profit (lots of treats in being a cat in trouble) was alcohol.  Berfert
was a problem drinker until he was given some Corona beer by a past cat
sitter.  They apparently didn't think we were serious when we told them
that Berf loved booze.  After that, Berf put himself on the wagon and
didn't touch another drop.

Berfert was a strange and wonderful cat and there will never be another
like him.  Good Bye Berfy werfels, We'll always miss you.

Meowmie Pam