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Old October 13th 03, 02:08 AM
Beverly Orel
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Thank you, Renee, for this lovely tribute to Domonic. He was a special cat,
no doubt about it.

Beverly


"Carol" wrote in message
om...
we are so glad you could finally write a warm and loving tribute to
Domonic. He shared so much of your life, it is obvious that he will
remain a part of you.
P.S. I'm sure BigBoy had a lovely Siamese voice. We all do. Shaina.

Batson" wrote in message

...
It has been almost a year since our sweet Dommie left us. Nov 30th 2002

was
his last day here on Earth.
He first came to us as a tiny kitten about 3 months old. Someone from

our
church said her cat had had kittens and only one was left and that he

was
going to the p*und if someone didn't adopt him. Well, since my husband
(fiancée at the time) had recently lost a black kitten, I figured that

this
would somehow make up for his loss. At this time we already had 2 cats

whom
*we* lived with; Big Boy (RB) a lovely Blue Point Siamese (with a lovely
voice) and Peepers (RB) a tabby-on-white who was a true cat's cat in

every
way. At first hubby said 3 cats were too many and I even tried to give

him
to the neighbor lady who lived downstairs! After coming to visit him
everyday, she finally said, "why don't you just take him home?" And she
handed him back to me! It wasn't long before I was in love and he was
allowed to stay. Dommie fit right in as being the "young tormentor" of

the
older cats. He soon grew to be called "DommieSon" and I was "Dommie's
Mommie". He was with us in our first apartment in 1983 then in the 3

moves
after that, the 4th being our final as his home.

When he was younger he loved to climb trees and had an affinity for

birds
which was probably the worst thing he ever did in his whole 18 1/2

years.
Although he was the sweetest cat I ever had, he was never one to get on

a
lap. He smurgled next to me in the bed for years (before the kids came)

and
loved to ride on my shoulder. One of his favorite things to do was bat

at
and pretend to eat my long hair. Both my mom and hubby's mom always

loved
him best and would lavish their attention on him when they visited. I

guess
it was as close to a grandson as they thought they would ever get. You

see,
after being infertile for 11 yrs, we were blessed with 2 children 23

months
apart. Dommie took this in stride as the sweet boy he was. Both kids

loved
him up to the end and still ask about him at times.

After Dommie came Otis Spunkmeyer (wink-wink of Cinni Koster) then

Licorice
aka Licky (RB) Abigail (Abbie) (RB), then Matilda Marie. He never seemed

to
mind the others when they came and went. There were numerous foster

kitties
also and he was curious but tolerant of them. Way back in 1986 we took a
mini-vacation to see Expo '86 in Vancouver Catnada. Since we were

staying
out in the country at the in-laws at the time, we had built in

cat-sitters
for Dommie and Peep. I will never forget the day we came driving home,

got
out of the car and here comes Dommie with the worst "cussing out" a cat

has
ever done to me about anything! You'd think we had left him for good and
that's about what he said as I looked into his kitty face. At least he

made
me feel loved..... always. He was the son I thought I would never have.
Always wondered what the neighbors thought as I called DommieSon out the
front door! Cats are family and no one will ever tell me different.

Then one day Meowmie was surfing and stumbled upon the most curious
newsgroup, the cats were actually speaking! What a novel idea! Dommie

and
Abbie (RB) jumped right in. He even managed to get himself a wink-wink

named
Buddy Jo (RB) and get wed-winked! It was a bitter-sweet time as Buddy Jo
went to the Bridge the next day. They had some wonderful dates at a

lovely
place near Mt. Hood called Ramona Falls. They were so suited to each

other
in personality, he was a bit shy and she was a little spunky thing.

Through
their meeting I have met one of my best friends Sandy (Buddy Jo's

Meowmie).
She was able to meet him when she came for a visit in 1999. He

"christened"
her luggage!!! Naughty cat! Isn't it amazing how cats can bring humans
together?!

Well our sweet Dommie started losing his health about 2001. It was
discovered that he had extremely high blood pressure that manifested

itself
as cloudy looking eyes. I mistakenly thought this was the normal

cataracts
of old age. Not so. I took him to TED about every 3 months to be checked

up
and not long after his initial diagnosis, he lost his hearing almost
completely. My poor baby was deaf and almost blind until the high BP

meds
took effect. His hearing was gone from his age, 17 at the time, which I
guess is quite common. About 3 weeks before he left us, a stray cat,
insisted that this was his new home. A long haired, orange male tabby

came
and demanded to be let in. I took him to TED to be fixed although he

wasn't
broken and he was officially a "rescue cat" with the cat rescue club I
belong to. I wish I could say he and Dommie got along but they didn't.

Poor
little Dommie hissed at everything he wasn't familiar with. It was no

wonder
since he couldn't see or hear but boy could he smell!

Although we did what we could, time and the illnesses took their toll.

The
day before we made the final decision to take him to TED's, he was

sitting
on the kitchen floor and just fell over. It broke my heart cause he

didn't
even try to get up. I knew it was time, actually past time since I had

been
getting the advice that his quality of life was not what it should be.

How
do you give up your baby? When they are taken from you, you have no

choice.
This was one of the hardest choices of my life. One thing I did choose

not
to do was to take him to TED's. It was too much for me to see him

breathe
his final breath. I wanted my last memory of him to be feeling of his

once
luxuriant fur in my face, to hold him on my shoulder for the last time,

to
let him try and "eat" my hair and to cry tears all over him until he was
wet. My husband took him in for me and said his goodbyes. I wish I could

say
that the end was peaceful but it wasn't. I won't go into details, only

to
say that I made the right decision in not being there. It would have

just
about killed me.

He's been gone now almost a year, his little box of ashes is on my

dresser
next to Abbies, along with his collar and picture. On my bed is a Beanie
Buddy named Onyx. He is a large black Persian stuffed cat with gold

eyes,
just like Dommies. Even though he wasn't full Persian, his Grandmother

Aunt
Jemima was. Dommie used to sleep with this cat although I doubt with his
blindness that he knew what it was. I knew that someday soon, all I

would
have to hold would be the stuffed one. Onyx is now the "Dommie cat" who
lives on the bottom of the bed. It's good to hold him and reminisce

about
the sweet little black boy kitty who stole my heart and will always be

loved
and missed terribly.

I know these things should have been said after he passed on last

November
but for some reason I just couldn't bring myself to do it. The grief was

too
much. Time has helped to heal some of the heartbreak so now it's a bit
eaiser. Too many kitties on the list this year for sure and one in
particular that I would pay anything for it not to be.

Renée (Dommie's Mommie)

and the current Batson Cats
Otis Spunkmeyer
Matilda Marie and
Simon Peter