In memoriam, Morris Kashinsky, 1996-2012

Morris was a real man’s cat, as independent as they come. That’s why I loved him so, and it was also for that reason, I never worried about him either. I always thought of Morris as a lean, mean, fighting machine, who was keenly aware of his surroundings, knowing how to avoid cars, and avoiding other dangers as well, although he was never one to shy away from an encounter with Max the neighbor cat, who was younger, and maybe even somewhat stronger.

But today was apparently not Morris’s day. Maybe he used up his 9 lives already, and his time was up. We don’t know for sure, but about 10 AM this morning, Morris came through the back door with his right eyeball out of the socket, and his jaw severely damaged/distorted.

We assumed he was hit by a car. I can’t think of anything else that could have caused that much injury. Morris was the kindest, easiest going cat. Certainly an encounter with Max wouldn’t have resulted in those kind of injuries, and I’d sure hate to think someone kicked him, but we do have a lot of new neighbors with kids, so………

Nothing much could get Morris riled up. Max being the one exception. Not even Chloe, our other, much younger cat, could annoy him. They were the best of friends. If you’d pet Morris, he would be your friend for life, and his greatest joy was either sitting on Edie’s or my lap for as long as we would let him. He would never have bothered anyone. If this was his fate, he definitely didn’t deserve it.

Anyways, Edie rushed him to the vets office (I’m not good with that kind of stuff), and Edie and the doctor decided it was best to euthanize him. The doctor said it would cost about $3K (not that you can put a price tag on a beloved pet) to fix him up, but at his age, the doctor thought he might not even be able to survive the operation. And even if he did, he probably wouldn’t have been the same.

I just can’t remember ever getting such a horrible feeling in my gut this morning when I heard that news.

Morris, you are missed!