16 July, 2011 – Elvis died in his sleep. He was buried under the tree with the other cats that have died while in our care, Fluffy, Xylophone, and Cam.
Elvis Update – Elvis was 18 recently. Something like 88 cat years. He is fairly healthy other than his chronic sinus condition from the accident that left him blind and eventually totally deaf. He is an old man in a nursing home. He soils his bedding so it must be changed a half-a-dozen times a day. He gets a walk outside every day, usually when I bring in the wash, much of which is his bedding, off the clothesline. He eats what the other cats eat but gets a double portion of wet food in the afternoon [Don’t tell the other cats].
He always purrs when I pick him up. And purrs the whole time I hold him. Except if he wants to get away. Wrong hold, funny smell, who knows, he struggles so you think that you are going to drop him. So you set him down.
It is interesting to watch new cats react to Elvis. Since he does not apply the usual cat gestures appropriate for a new, strange cat, they eventually stop seeing him as a cat even though he looks and smells like a cat. Some new kittens saw him, went in to full-fierce-cat posture to no avail. Elvis just don’t care. He wants to be fed. He wants to be held. He wants to be clean. Don’t we all.
Elvis – Elvis was a barn cat somewhere not far away. He was kind of old (14 years) and was hit by a car. The vet put him back together but in the process, he became blind. The vet says that he is also deaf in one ear. Obviously, he could not return to being an outside cat. He lived at the animal hospital for a while and made friends with the staff and clients as he walked around the office. But he lived in a cage and my wife though it would be ok for him to come and spend some time with us. So he is still here. She takes him for a walk every day. A long walk, usually an hour or so. His territory is almost as big as Mr. X’s. She taps a stick on the ground and he mostly follows it. Like all cats he is independent minded and will sometimes head off in the direction of his choice but usually he now follows the stick-tap as he knows that is sure ground. Before we adopted the stick strategy, it was always a cliff-hanger of do you let him discover that his next step will carry him off the edge and into the garden pond. Or grab him up at the last instant and have him be indignant as only a cat can be that you did not give him a chance to show that he know what he is doing. Because he is blind, my wife and I joke that we should re-name him Ray.