Oberon Bagheera Plantier Boyd: 1/20/1999 - 6/3/2009

This morning we had the very difficult task of saying goodbye to a member of our family. For the last 10 years, Oberon (aka Obie, Obi-wan Kenobi cat, Bubba, Boo, Boopy, and Oobers) has been the Dr. Jekyll and Mr Hyde of our home. Loving and imperious, crotchety and misbehaving, snappish and purring, he was a very definite personality from the start. He had paws the size of salad plates (polydactyl, he had 7 toes on one paw and 6 on the other) and learned fairly quickly that he could open doorknobs, grab the edge of a coffee cup to sneak a sip, or push on your cheek to wake you up when he wanted scritches. He adored coffee, and was discriminating enough to know which mug was fresh and which was "stale". Tuna was his favorite food, but he was ever curious as to what the rest of the world was eating.

For the past 2 years or so, he has steadily been going downhill, becoming sicker and more frail as time passed. Just before Eleanor was born, he underwent surgery for bladder disease and severe urinary tract stones. He seemed to rebound a little after that, and was almost "himself" again for a couple of months. However, for the last year he has steadily declined and with his hip problems had reached the stage where he could hardly walk a single step without falling over. He's been turrning his nose up at food, not using his litter box, and in the last week or so had even stopped enjoying scritches. He would actually try to avoid your hands most of the time rather than lean into them.

From his glory days of preening on the television for his "Goddess" at 19-21 lbs, when we said goodbye this morning he was 10 lbs and 6 oz, literally a shadow of himself. The vet put in an iv catheter and brought him to us to hold. He laid on the table, nose to nose with me, and as I softly petted his ears and told him how much I loved him he looked at me and purred...and then was gone. We have loved him and been annoyed with him, cooed at him and scolded him, and we will never stop missing him.

Here is our Obie....




Oberon

He pads to me quietly

on big black feet with

furry thumbs.

Green eyes glow as he

coming into the light from

shadow tells

me of his displeasure.

His boredom.

No bugs here, mom.

No new toys here, mom.

No more books to pull from the shelves, mom.

None of my leather MICE, mom.

That reminds me-

I look my good-luck in the face and

purr with him.

I'll stop at the pet store-

tomorrow.

Feb. 12, 2001