At the time i found tugger and his 2 brothers i was working for a demolition company we were tearing down old condemed houses. As i was walking t hrough one of the houses i heard small cats crying, There they were alone they were no more than a few days old i figure, so i picked them up and found a box to keep them in. I had with me some towels so i made a bed for them . It was still early in the day so i kept them in my truck with the air running, hoping they would be ok till i got them home. That evening my wife who has been working in the veteranary field for years got some formula and bottles and we started to feed them. It took some time but they all survived and turned out fine. We named them Tugger, Billy, and Frodo. Being abandon bottle fed cats they all were a little ferel, i quess you could say, and tugger had the most problems of the three. He was very untrusting, Hissy, would scratch and bite and in general was tough to handle. We had a soft pink robe that he took a liking to and would do pushies on it. So myself my wife, son and daughter would hold him in the robe and pet him. This was the only real way any of us could. This went on for maybe 2 or 3 years hard to remember and finally he came around, He was more accepting of us and we could pet him without him being held in the robe. Tugger was different than his brothers and for that matter than any cat i have ever had, And we have had many. I guess he took a liking to me and made me his human. Tugger was more like a dog than a cat he would come to me when i call him, he would come visit me in the bathroom while i was getting ready for work. When i got home from work he would always come say hi and sit with me. When I talked to him it was like he understood what i was saying. At night when i went to bed he would come lay down on my chest look me in the eye and talk to me, In cat talk of course, until i petted him, then he would lay beside me on the pink robe which my wife and i kept there just for him. And i would pet him till i fell asleep. I had an unfortunate bout with kidney stones and had a drain in me and was off work for 2 weeks. At night i would go sit in the garage almost every night for 2 weeks and would sit there for hours because it was warm out there. And for some reason i felt better with the warmth. Every night Tugger would come out there and lay next to me. We had a 2 seater folding chair he would jump up next to me start talking and touch me with his paw, Maybe he knew i wasn't feeling well and he would lay down next to me and stay there for as long as i did to keep me company. It was the night before my 50th birthday which was 11-5-2007. Tugger for some reason would not leave me alone he put his favorite toy which was a little stuffed cat on the bed on his robe and kept following me around wanting me to follow him to the bedroom and kept jumping up on the bed and wanting me to pay attention to him. I remember sitting on the side of my bed that night before i was to retire and he sat on the floor and kept rubbing against my legs and looking up at me and talking so i picked him up and put him on the bed. Then he went over to my wife and layed on her for awhile before finally coming over to me. He did his usual thing layed on my chest and finally went to sleep on his robe. The next morning he came to visit me as i was getting ready for work. While shaving he just kept walking back and forth on the vanity. Finally he sat down and looked at me talking the whole time. Before i left i kissed his head and sang my little song for him. "Rum tum tugger is a silly one he's the silliest one that i know". Later that evening when i got home it took me a few minutes but then i realized Tugger was not there. When i asked my wife where he was she told me that my son found Tugger on the floor next to our bed and that he had passed away. Passed away? He was so young he was only seven. My wife took him to work at the clinic and they found that he just had a heart attack. Not of old age , not of disease it just happens i guess. But i'm glad he didn't suffer. As i think back now i wonder if he knew and thats why he didnt leave me alone the night before. Anyway my 50th birtday is one i"ll never forget. On that day I lost a very good friend. When he died a part of me died too, I wish i could have been there in his last moments. I'm sure he was trying to jump up on the bed to be on his robe with his toy where he felt most at peace, but never made it. Tugger was different, he was very special to me and i will always remember him. I miss him very much. I keep one of his pictures as a background on the computer and when i sit down i greet him as well as when im done i say good night.

It felt good to write this so i could share it with others.

Until we meet again......
In Memory of my Friend Tugger.



For all of us who have lost a friend Gone but not Forgotten