About Stormy

Stormy was a wonderful cat, beloved by me, his owner, as well as his family, friends and neighbors. 

Sadly, he passed away in November 2022.

Stormy was sick for much of the last year of his life.  In October 2021, he had a blockage of his urinary tract. For a cat this can be fatal.
Fortunately, after he moaned for hours, I realized that he needed to go to a pet ER. The doctor saved his life by inserting a catheter and clearing the blockage. 

Unfortunately, blood tests afterward showed that his kidneys were starting to fail. He was put on a special diet and had to have subcutaneous administration of fluids. In July, he started to experience respiratory problems. We thought that it might be just a cold, but the antibiotics didn’t help him. His doctor determined that he had a nasal tumor, which couldn’t be cured.  He was frequently very congested and had trouble eating and drinking. Finally, it became more and more difficult for him to breathe.  It was time for us to say goodbye to him. 

Sad story, but during those last 4 months, little Stormy taught me an important lesson. Despite his pain and his weakened condition, Stormy found joy in the daily occurrences of life. 

Like sleeping on your favorite bedspread.

 

Sitting on the porch in the warm sunshine.

 

 

Watching the neighbors play from the comfort of your tent.

 

 

 

Trying to catch a praying mantis that landed on your tent.

Watching your favorite mouse video on TV.

Stormy's Adoption

Stormy was adopted by my mother in February 2009.  He was only 10 months old and had come from Last Chance Rescue. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

He came to live with her in her large house. He loved that big house with its screened porch that allowed him to watch birds and squirrels. And it had so many places where he could hide.

 

 

 

 

 

He was, as she said, “Good company”. 

Stormy Gets a New Owner - Me

Stormy spent almost 9 years with Mom and was pretty happy for most of that time. He spent a few days at my house when Mom stayed over due to bad weather. 

 

In December 2017 just a few days before Christmas, Mom fell and broke her hip. Stormy was very frightened by the EMTs and the fire engine. Then he spent a couple of days by himself.  I had promised Mom that I would take care of Stormy if anything happened to her and it now looked like he needed to stay with me.  So, I moved Stormy and his crate and litter box to my place. 

Stormy quickly made himself at home. 

Stormy at Home

Mom was never well enough to bring Stormy back home with her. She passed away in August 2018. Stormy’s new home was with me.

Stormy became my buddy. We were two aging guys living together. 

There were a number of things that Stormy loved about living with me. 

First, there was Stormy’s window. Stormy took over my guest room and would look out the second floor window for hours. Occasionally, he got a visitor. 

I purchased a mesh tunnel so that Stormy could safely sit on my deck. It was his favorite place to be in the summer. 

Then there was Stormy’s tent. Some of the neighbors would stop by to visit. Many of the neighborhood kids would stop by, also. So would the mailman.  Stormy would hold court in his tent every afternoon.

Like any typical guy, Stormy loved food. There was Stormy’s “tuna fish” time in the afternoon and also time for his “squeezie”.  But for the last few months, nothing surpassed having broth for “Stormy’s lunch”. 

Finally, there was Stormy’s giant house. He initially didn’t spend much time it, but whenever he wanted to feel taller than me, this was the place to be. 

Others Who Loved Stormy

Marge helped Mom adopt Stormy and frequently stopped by to visit him. She would also take care of him if I wanted to take an overnight trip. Stormy always perked up when Marge visited him. And she always provided “cat advice” to me, a first time cat owner. Marge was with me and Stormy when he died. Here are pictures that Marge took: 

I was so lucky to find a caregiver who would watch over Stormy when I was away. LeAnn loves cats and she loved Stormy.  Here are some photos that she sent to assure me that he was doing well when I was on vacation. 

Veronique and McOrell first met Stormy when he walked in front of the webcam during a Zoom meeting. They met him face to face on Thanksgiving and then saw him again at Christmas.  They really liked him and he certainly was a perfect gentleman when they came to see him. 

The Pandemic Years

If you have to spend a year locked up at home and you don’t have someone to keep you company, a pet may be the next best thing. 

In some strange way, I can almost believe that my mother planned things by giving me her cat so that I would have an engaging companion during the pandemic. For example, watching a cat stalking a cicada can really be fun. 

And there’s nothing that beats having some company when you are watching TV.

I swore that I would NEVER allow a cat to sleep in bed with me.  Six months later, we were arguing about which side of the bed HE would sleep on…

In the fall of 2020, I had my deck replaced with a new and much larger one.  Someone, of course, had to supervise the work for me (1st picture). The new deck had a much lower railing so I could safely let him roam the deck. He loved it!

The Final Year

As I mentioned above, Stormy was sick for a bit more than a year starting in October 2021. It began with a blocked urinary tract and then kidney disease. Stormy initially had to have twice daily fluids administered via IV. HE HATED IT. AND SO DID I.

In December, I took him to the Catonsville Cat Clinic to see Dr. Nesbitt. She cut back on the IV and she and her staff helped me to care for Stormy over the next 12 months. Here’s a shout out to all of them for their kindness and compassion.

My one hope after Stormy’s illness was diagnosed was that he could see one final spring. He loved spring with all of the birds and warm air. And I loved having that final spring with him. 

In July, Stormy had respiratory problems that were diagnosed as a nasal tumor. I thought that we would have to say goodbye to him after listening to several nights of very difficult breathing. Stormy’s friends including Marge, Tony and Rose, Tim, Veronique, McOrell, LeAnn, Tony Jr. and Angela stopped over to say goodbye. 

But Stormy wasn’t ready to go. I figured out how to help him to breathe better, got him to eat the wet cat food and figured out a way to get him to drink out of the shower.  He became the miracle cat who lasted 4 more months. 

August

September

October

Stormy's Last Day

The night before Stormy died, he wouldn’t sleep upstairs with me. He wanted to stay in his pet bed downstairs. I got up several times to check on him and he wasn’t sleeping, he was just staring into space. When I got up, I tried to get him to eat something. He ate his “squeezie” but I had to bring it to him. I carried him upstairs to get some water, but he wouldn’t drink and then went right back downstairs to his bed. The day that I had dreaded had arrived. 

I called Marge and she came over. Stormy acknowledged her presence but wouldn’t move.  She agreed with me that Stormy’s time had come. I called his vet around 9:30 and they agreed to have him come at 11. 

At 10:45, I picked him up to put him in his crate. He whimpered and tried to resist but couldn’t. At the vet’s, he meowed a few times but didn’t hiss or try to bite when the technician picked him up. She put a towel on my lap, put Stormy on the towel and injected a sedative.  After 15 minutes, he had calmed down, but he wasn’t asleep, so they gave him another sedative. Finally, he dozed off with his tongue hanging out. 

Dr. Nesbitt came into the room, and we put Stormy on the examination table. She picked up of his hind legs and injected the chemical to put him to sleep. About 15 seconds later, she checked his heartbeat and said, “He’s gone.”  He just laid there lifeless on that table. 

Some Things that I want to remember...

  • Stormy loved to get me up early in the morning. He would get on my pilllow and tap me on the top of my head. If I didn’t move, he would tap again, this time with his claws.

  • Stormy always had a spoon of yogurt in the morning. I discovered that cherry yogurt was his favorite!
  • Stormy loved to go out in his crate and sit on my front porch in the morning to watch the birds, the squirrels and the people.  This would often be followed by several hours of looking out the window in his room.

  • In the summer, my back deck would get the sun and he loved to just sit out there in the sun, sometimes on his back. 
  • He was always curious. He would watch the kids playing, someone cutting grass or me doing some gardening. 
  • He loved getting his broth for lunchtime. He would nudge me with his head if I didn’t get it into his bowl fast enough. 
  • He liked to drink water out of the bathroom sink-but sometimes, he wanted me to put my finger in there so he could navigate where to drink. 

  • If I put a blanket on my lap, he would crawl up into my lap and take a nice nap. Sometimes, we both took a nap. 
  • Sometimes, he would look out his window for me when I was gone. When he saw my car pull in, he would jump off the bed and come downstairs to greet me at the door. Or if he stayed at the window and I yelled, “Stormy” from outside, he would jump down and run downstairs. 
  • When I returned home from a trip, he was always so glad to see me. He would purr and rub his head on my leg and often roll around on his back.

  • Before we went to bed at night, he wanted us to do a security check.  We would go into each room and even out on the deck and he would walk all around to check. I had to tell him, “Good job, Stormy!”
  • He really liked flute music from YouTube or Pandora. It calmed him down and put him to sleep. 
  • He loved to watch bird videos, mouse videos and sometimes cat videos on YouTube. 
  • He loved the color white. Any white blanket or spread immediately became his blanket. 

  • He hated getting the IV. He was able to sense when I was ready to give it to him and would run away from me.  I had to make up with him each time that I did it. 
  • He did not like going to the vet. After one visit, the vet prescribed a drug to calm him down before she would agree to see him again.  The writeup said, “Stormy refused treatment.”
  • He loved to play with alligator clips with me. He would swat it toward me with his paw and I would swat it back at him. He liked to sit at the top of the stairs and have me toss the clip up to him so that he could swat it back down to me. 
  • Some workmen replacing my storm door inadvertently let him out. When I became aware that he was gone, I looked all around my neighbors’ yards and mine, but couldn’t find him. I was afraid that I had lost him. One last time, I tried walking up the street to the end of the block. There he was chewing on some plant in the garden of the end house on the block. 
  • He loved to chew on grass. If he ate too much, it would upset his stomach. He liked me to pick a blade of grass and stick it through the webbing on his tent so that he could bite off a piece. 
  • If he wanted my attention and I was working on the computer, he would jump up on the computer table and start pawing my keyboard. If that didn’t work, he would sit right in front of the monitor and not move.
  • He hated thunder or loud noises like fireworks. He would usually hide under the dining room table whenever he heard the noise. 
  • He always liked to take over “my” chair. The living room recliner, the basement recliner and the patio chair all became his.

  • Although he chased mice, he never killed them. He would push at them with his paw or stand still and watch them, but he never put one in his mouth. 

Making Sense of It

At times, I have struggled to make sense of Stormy’s illness and death. The kind words and prayers of so many others helped a lot. Many people were praying for Stormy during his last year. That’s a miracle, also.  Listening to this particular song called “Wayland the Rabbit” by Seals and Crofts helped, too. Jimmy Seals wrote it about his dad, whose name was Wayland.

Rest in peace, little Stormy!  I will never forget you!