R.I.P. Isaac The Cat

Yesterday I had to have Isaac the cat put down at the age of 19.  Sweetpea and I had adopted him from the Milwaukee Human Society way back in the spring of 1995, and he's been with me ever since.  Nineteen years.  Sweetpea was gone by the spring of '96.

And his passing is reason enough to post to HOT POOP for the first time in more than a year.  He was the greatest cat I have ever known because he and I found that perfect spot between independence and cloying.  In other words, we gave each other just the right amount of love/attention/companionship as either of us required.  He was always around, but rarely trampled underfoot, you know?

Isaac was a very small cat, that's the first thing you need to know about him.  He typically weighed between 6 and 7 pounds, though in these last few months had dropped down to a smidge over 5.  I wouldn't say he looked skinny, or unhealthy, and having lived to the ripe old age of 19, he was certainly the picture of health right up to the end, but damn was he lean.  Not an ounce of fat to be found on him.

The second thing to know about Isaac was that he was never a very active cat.  His favorite activity was sitting in an open window and chittering at birds and squirrels.  Beyond that, he showed little interest in toys, would do a couple sprints a day from one end of the house to the other, and otherwise enjoyed attacking a moving hand beneath a blanket.  Oh, and when he was younger, he could jump to amazing heights.  Somewhere, there is a picture of him sitting on top of a door that he had jumped up to from a bed.  I shit you not.  I was sitting right there, and watched him leap high enough to grab the top of the door with his front paws and pull himself up.

I don't claim to understand feline sexuality, but I believe Isaac was at the very least bi-sexual.  On many occasions I would find him mounted on Eno, humping Eno's tailbone.  Eno looked confused, and Isaac just looked at me like he wanted me to get the fuck outta the room.  Ahh, the bachelor lifestyle!

After Eno died back in the summer of 2011, I wondered if Isaac would become despondent, because beyond the humping, Isaac and Eno were very good companions.  Eno particularly enjoyed cleaning Isaac, and the size different was such that Isaac could easily curl up inside a curled-up Eno to the extent that you could barely see Isaac within all that black and white fur.  I don't believe Isaac got despondent, being mostly an independent soul, but he did get more affectionate with me in the last three years, and for that I am ultimately grateful.

Isaac left this world in about the best way possible, I believe. I was holding him in my arms when Dr. Berg gave him the injection, and I was cooing "goodnight sweet prince" and "goodbye sweet Isaac" over and over into his ears that could not hear, and he was warm, and he was smiling.  Isaac was loved.  It may have only been Eno and me, but I believe it was more than enough to keep him going for nineteen years.

Rest in peace, Isaac.  Ha ba na da!  A boojee-boojee boo!

Hank