My sweet little boy cat Lobo died today. We have no idea what happened. About two weeks ago he started losing weight but we thought that was just in hair that came off in the bath. Then he stopped eating, he grew lethargic, and last night he started having spasms and didn’t have the strength to hold up his head. It just came out of nowhere.
Lobo came to us as a kitten the month before I had Atticus. The whole time Atti was in the hospital, Lobo would let me cradle him and pretend I was holding my baby. As soon as he heard that breast pump start whooshing, little Lobi would come running to sit in my lap and be my surrogate baby boy.
As soon as Atti did come home, Lobo immediately adopted him. He played the role of big brother and best buddy, always keeping Atti company during tummy time, sniffing out any therapist that came to the house, and letting Atti endlessly pull out his whiskers and fur.
I’m one of those crazy cat people who believe that our pets have a spiritual mission of their own. They come to us to be little fuzzy helpers, to teach us lessons, to support us and give us comfort during the hardships of life.
Lobo was here to help Atti. He helped me get through that awful hospital stay, and since then he has been right by his boy every minute, even sleeping on the changing table while Atti slept in his crib. He would perch himself just out of reach, being the motivation for Atti to make his little body move. The therapists started calling him The Therapy Cat.
We’ve tried to have Atti play with some other kids his age, but it doesn’t really work. He can’t run or even sit up, he can’t defend himself while everyone is learning to share, the other kid gets bored because Atti can’t really interact, it’s just not working out yet. But Atti always had a playmate in Lobo.
I’m just wrecked over this. I know he was a cat, not a person, and this kind of thing happens, but it’s just such a loss in our family. We’re going to miss this little guy so very much. But he was just the best cat while we had him.