My Old Man

He's a grumpy guy quite often now. He complains loud enough for everyone in the house to hear when one of the kids pisses him off.

He's getting a little grey on the top of his head and his memory ain't what it used to be. It isn't uncommon that he walks out of a room and then stands there, forgetting where he was going or what he was doing.

But he's still physically active and has a good amount of muscle, although his hair is a bit fly away and hard to manage. His appetite is great, he still has all his own teeth and doesn't have any arthritis to make him gimpy.


He does tend to puke quite often though.... and I find little bits of spit up in the oddest spots. I guess wherever he was sitting when the urge to purge strikes is where it gets deposited.


This is my cat BB - aka Blackbeard Bunnybutt. Quite the handle, isn't it? He is a Manx, with a stumpy tail. His markings dictate the 'Blackbeard' part of his name, as his chin is black. And the "Bunnybutt' part... well, Manx come in three varieties: longtails (look like just any other cat), stumpies (short tails) and rumpies (no tails). BB is a stumpy. His tail is about 4 vertebrae long, shaped like a downturned hook, and because he has long hair, it is a lovely little puff like a rabbit's tail. His mum was a longtail, his grandmother a rumpy and his dad a stumpy.

He's a rather handsome old guy and has been with me since the age of 7 weeks. On June 21st this year, he will turn 15. I think in cat years that makes him somewhere around 76 years old. I thought I was going to lose him 2 1/2 years ago when he was deathly ill with what turned out to be pancreatitis, but after spending 10 days in the vet's clinic, having exploratory surgery, a feeding tube in his neck and totally wiping out my bank account, he recovered and you'd never know he had had three paws in the great litter box in the sky.

He reads me well, as I do him. He has been through numerous moves - he's lived in Alberta, Texas, California, British Columbia and Manitoba, although he hates car rides and being put in a cat carrier will make him moo like a sick little cow, which only makes me laugh! He's also seen me through a number of relationships. He will always come to comfort me when I am sad and sleeps on my bed every single night.

He's gotten less picky with food in his old age, which seems to be rather backwards, but it makes my life easier! He always, always uses the litter box. He loves catnip. He comes running when I sing to the radio and wants to be picked up. Drinking water out of the bathroom sink is one of his fave things and if you pour some slowly out of a glass, he will play and bite and splash in it for as long as you will cooperate.

I have no idea how long he will continue to live. I pretty much consider the past couple of years as bonus time with him, so if he lives another two or three, so much the better. He certainly isn't showing any signs of slowing down at this point in time.