Caffeinated Clint (Louis 2004-2008)

Everyone probably remembers Louis, my little Scottish Fold? Yep, the cute little black fellow with the Doc Brown eyes and ostensibly grouchy demeanour (hardly the case, he was the friendliest and most docile feline you’d ever have met). I know you do…because when I posted photos of him on the site way-back-when I had an oodles of emails wishing him either a full recovery or simply writing in to say how adorable he is.

Louis passed away today.

Sad as shit.

Was it the liver disease? I don’t know. All we know is, according to the vet, the poor little fellow had a broken jaw, broken legs and some other severe injuries. It’s just strange. It didn’t look like he’d been ravaged by a dog and nor would I have suspected he’d have been hit by a car – he was so stocky, as most Scottish folds are, and couldn’t jump fences; let alone squeeze under one – because he can’t get to the roads (even then, the roads out here in the hills aren’t busy, never many cars). All I can assume is that he’d had a really severe seizure – – and went nuts, smashing into the wall, bricks and so on… enough to cause those stories. Whatever… it doesn’t matter. My little buddy… my little office cat… has gone. And I’m crushed. Nothing can bring him back.

Louis was living on borrowed time. That I know. He was diagnosed with liver cancer over 2 years ago – and back then, given 6 months to live. Two years later – he seemed happy, healthy and full of beans. We honestly considered him a miracle – the last time we took him to our specialist (the wonderful Richard at The Cat Clinic) there was barely a trace of illness. Obviously he still had liver disease, but you had to look hard to find it. If you saw him, you wouldn’t think there was a thing wrong with him. Even this week I remember telling my wife “Wow, it’s amazing – it’s been three years since they gave Louis his death sentence”.

I saw him this morning. I let him out the back. He was fine. My wife saw him about half-an-hour or before his death. Again, seemed fine. Sometime after that… he met his maker.

My wife adored Louis – he was the baby before the “baby” (speaking of, Charisma loved Louis… they were always playing together; just yesterday they were in the backyard chasing each other’s tails). She’s a mess. Heck, I’m a mess. It’s amazing how connected we get to our pets. But Louis was more than a cat… heck, he wasn’t a cat… he was part-human. Scottish Folds have the most wonderfulest of personalities. He was just delightful. We will miss him dearly.

To think I’ll never wake up to the cat licking my face again, or to have to quickly grab Louis before he started eating the other cat’s dry-food (which he wasn’t allowed to have, because of his liver disease) is heart-rending. Mostly though, I’ll miss seeing the little guy wander into the office every day… plonking himself on the couch… and flashing me a smile as he succumbed to a deep slumber.

Today, the slumber is everlasting for Louis.

Goodbye my little friend.

All raise your coffee cups and salute Louis!