Tuesday, March 3, 2015, 6:00 p.m.

Ever since our daughter found a tiny kitten at her friend’s house in 1997, we have been catlovers. Cookie died from bone marrow cancer at the young age of 4 years old, in November 2001, just a few short months following the country’s terrorism on 9/11 that we were all trying to grasp and understand. The following May, we got 2 sister calico cats on Cinco de Mayo, 2002, whom I am very happy to say are still with us, and about to be 13 years old. They belonged to a family that was going to take them down to the river and drown them! So we took both of them. We also have our black cat, Salem, a rescue kitty from the wonderful shelter in Ithaca, NY, who will be 11 soon. But this story is about a “stray” who found us in the knick of time, and gave us almost 6 years of complete and unending love. Butterscotch was THE MOST AFFECTIONATE, SWEET boy kitty I have ever met, and I’m so happy that he was with us for the past 6 years. 

This journal tells the story of how he came to us, and all that we went through together, before it all ended yesterday, March 2, 2015 at the vet’s office. Tears are still flowing as I write this, but it is carthartic, and my salute to dearest Butterscotch. The original journal that I wrote in a gardening forum, while it was all happening, ended back when Butterscotch was safely inside in his furever room in our house, and all was well until… he had a massive seizure, or something else neurological, and unfortunately could not be saved yesterday. You will see that he was a very strong fighter for his life throughout his journey, but this proved to be just too much, poor baby. My husband is in the garage building a nice wooden casket for Butterscotch, as I type. We tried to bury him yesterday, near Cookie, but all the snow and frozen ground was just too much for even 2 of Don’s pick axes. So we will put him in the box, out in our shed, and bury him when it all thaws out next month.

  I will add some fun tidbits about him in the “Butterscotch’s Persnonality” page, as I think of them, so please do come back to read more.

Please see my “about” and “personality” pages above too. There is another picture and a fun video to watch!

EDIT: January 26, 2018 – Our beautiful Roxie and Amber passed away in Dec. ’16 and July ’17 but are forever in our hearts, as is Butterscotch! Salem is now 13 and running around with our brand new kittens, Matilda and Quinn.

 

 

Friday, December 26, 2009

We lost poor Slinky, a beautiful Russian blue kitty, a few months ago – he was one of our feral cats, who came to eat a few meals each day the past few years. This past summer, another very pretty cat starting coming, but only a few times a month. He always looked VERY clean – as if he belonged to someone, but he eats like he hasn’t had a meal in forever!

We haven’t seen him for over a few months now, and I was hoping he had gone “home”. Well this morning, while I was cleaning up the kitchen, one of my cats was making a rukus by the sliding doors – there was Butterscotch! But the poor baby has been in an AWFUL fight with something! His entire ear is chewed up to the point that ALL the fur is off of it! POOR BABY!

I gave him a bowl full of dry food which he gobbled up in a second, and then I put out a small can of food, which was also gone lickety split. I will be looking out for his return, and hope I can help nurse him back to health. He is very skittish, and we won’t be able to take him to the vet, but we can at least feed him well.

P.S. He is back now, and eating once again. He doesn’t seem as frightened by us right now, and I’m hoping he will try out the cathouse that Don built for shelter too.

Sunday, December 28, 2009

I am happy to say, that he was in the cathouse that Don built most of today. And ate every morsel of food we put out during the day – the only time he went off the deck was when I’m assuming he went to the bathroom – thankfully NOT on the deck! Don was able to put a soft towel in the bottom of the cathouse while he was gone, and he’s been sleeping in there since about 7 this evening. I hope he stays safe, and a bit warmer in there.

Sunday, December 28th, 2008

SAFE and sleeping soundly in the cathouse!

EVER so hungry all the time!
The ear is looking a bit better, but I’ve noticed that the tip is turned outwards?
Hope it heals ok.

Friday, January 2, 2009

Butterscotch disappeared for 2 days, and I was worried that he might have gotten into more trouble. But yesterday, just as we were getting ready to go to our friends’ house, he appeared… hungry as ever! We had had about 5 inches of snow all day yesterday, so he must have been very cold as well – the wind was blowing fiercely too!

This afternoon, after a wild night of wind, I saw Butterscotch sitting in the sun on the deck. It was still only 20 degrees out there, but I’m sure the sun felt oh-so-good to him! He sleeps with his head ever ready to run at the first sign of a sound, poor baby!

Friday, January 2, 2009

I think the ear looks red because of the sun shining through it without any fur cover. It looks pretty much the same as from the first day we’ve seen it. I have not seen him shaking his head, nor touching his ear at all. He is always very hungry, and does sleep in the cathouse from time to time, but not like the first 2 days that he was here when the wounds were fresh.

That’s all I have for now…

Sunday, February 8, 2009

Butterscotch comes daily to eat several times a day. He is extremely friendly, loving pets and rubs and tries to come inside every time. I sooooo wish we could bring him in, but unfortunately we cannot afford to take him to the vet for all the necessary shots, etc if we were to do that, and having 5 indoor cats is a handful as it is already.

But I do love the times when I get to feed him and give him a scratch and rub – he even pushes into our hands when we do that, which makes Don believe that he had to have been someone’s cat and was cast outside for some reason – poor kitty.

Here he is tonight, trying to get inside, while I was feeding him about 1/2 hour ago. His right ear is doing so much better – it is even standing straight up once again – I am so happy to see that, as it had been curled back when he got hurt. Now… if he can only stay out of fights – he had another awful one a few weeks ago and lost some fur from his eye back down past the same ear.

Monday, February 9, 2009

“Awwwwwwwwww I REALLY wish I could come inside and eat with the rest of the cats!!!”

“PLEASE OH PLEASE won’t you let me in???”

His expressions break my heart. But he is fed well, numerous times a day by us, and gets lots of rubs too – he tried to get Don to continue again last night, but is actually scratching him when he grabs for his hand to continue.

We are going to wait and see when our son gets to have a place of his own and takes his 2 cats with him – right now he is only employed as a temp., but that job might become permanent in about 1 1/2 months. After that, if things stabilize here, we “might” be able to take Butterscotch inside. 

Monday, March 16, 2009

Time for another update.
Butterscotch tries harder and harder to come inside each time we feed him, but it’s just not possible right now. We do not have the funds to take him to the vet – especially with what we are dealing with, with Oliver being sick. (edit: Oliver had to have urinary tract blockage surgery) So we feed him NUMEROUS times a day and give him lots of rubs and attention.

Here he is getting in my camera – he wouldn’t pose nicely so I took the picture anyway.

He plopped down against the open door and was watching Amber inside.

Being lazy as cats like to be, he decided to turn over for a bite to eat!

More in next post…

Wednesday, March 18, 2009

Butterscotch seems to be very afraid when we try to go out on the deck when he is there – he runs away down the stairs. He will sit on the stairs to wait and see if we leave, but won’t come around us – YET!

He does love to be petted when we open the door to feed him though.