First of all, I want to thank everyone for their sentiments about our loss
of Alex. He was a wonderful cat, and we miss him a lot. He was one of only
two cats that we actually had from kittenhood. All of the others have been
adopted as adults. I remember when we saw him racing down the stairs at the
shelter, at 3 months old, still clinging to his mother (Rosie) and nursing.
The woman at the shelter commented that Rosie was a very patient mother as
any other cat mother would have ended the nursing a month earlier. We
couldn't believe how cute he was with his "pink ears" (white fur so the ears
looked pink) and the bushy black tail with the white "period" at the end. As
we took him away in the carrier, the woman was caroling out "Don't forget he
needs a waterbowl!"

When we brought him home, we tried to do everything according to the book
and introduce him to Molly (of blessed memory) slowly, but he would have
none of that. We opened the door to the guest room (where we put him in
initially), and he raced out. Molly hissed her lungs out at him, but he just
ignored her (the shelter was a big house, and the cats were loose in the
house all day, so he was used to living with lots of other cats), so she was
forced to resign herself to this intruder. She never liked him, and
continued to hiss at him periodically for the next 14 years (until she
died). As a kitten, Alex was totally wild and chewed electric cords. We had
to keep everything unplugged all the time. I wondered if he would ever stop.
After several years, he more or less did, but even in his old age, he
occasionally chomped a cord just for old times sake. I remember when he lost
his kitten teeth.

Alex had many careers in his lifetime. He was in charge of the family
finances and frequently reminded my husband if it weren't for his meticulous
bookkeeping, we would have been "in the poor house" on more than one
occasion (Amanda has now taken over the financial duties ;-) At one point,
Alex even helped support the family by becoming a VCR repair cat. He would
make housecalls in his special truck and wear his red steel-toed cat boots.
He left my son the boots in his will but alas, they don't fit. :-) On
another occasion, he tried to earn money missionizing for a religious cult
but stopped that when he realized that people didn't expect to pay for his
tracts.

And then, in a breath, 17 years had passed, and he was old and sick, and
life was coming to an end. In the last two years, I nursed him through
diabetes, CRF, and cardiac hypertrophy. At the end, the doctor thinks he
lost a battle with cancer. He passed to the bridge peacefully while I spoke
to him and petted his head. I presume he's there right now, waiting for me
with Alvin, and Molly is hissing at him for old times sake.  As Alex went, I
whispered to him: "Rise slowly, Angel. It's hard to let you go."

Again, thank you everyone for your purrs and sentiments and lighting candles
to aid Alex's passing.
Best regards,
---Cindy S.