Madeline - Atlantic Beach Tween Portraits

Mowgli James Carpenter

Yesterday my husband and I took our cat Mowgli to the vet.  The news was heartbreaking and as I stood there trying to understand I fell apart.  Soon I will have to say goodbye to one of my best friends.

Mowgli is our third cat.  We wanted another buddy for Nala and Rory and were so excited to pick out a little Siamese kitten.  We wanted a girl because we had two girls already and we thought a third would be perfect.  We held several kittens, but Phillip thought it was best to get the biggest kitten so "she" wouldn't be so teeny tiny compared to the Nala and Rory.  We named her Belle, because all of our girls had Disney princess names.  The first night "she" slept curled up under my chin.  I remember being so hot, but I didn't want to move or disturb "her".  After a few days later it became pretty obvious that our little girl was actually our little boy.  So Belle became Mowgli, and the name fit.

Mowgli is calm cool and collected.  I always describe him as my easy going cat.  He loves to play, and is really my only cat who really cares to much for "cat toys".  He loves to stalk the laser and bat at the feather toy.  Although he knows his name he comes running if we call another cat, and when he runs his chunky belly wiggles back in forth.  At our old house he would sit on the side of the shower when we were in there, and its not rare to find him in the tub after Phillip takes a shower.  Like all cats he is lazy and is a rather chunky boy, like his momma :)  He likes to sleep in the most uncomfortable spots ever (for us) and when you try to move him, he just doesn't seem to give.  For as long as I can remember one of his favorite sleeping spots has been right between Phillips knees, and if you can imagine a 13lb. fur ball can get quite hot during the summer.  Recently he spent a few weeks sleeping spread out by my pillow, taking up more room than a full grown man.  He is also oblivious of his size and has kitten mentality... he jumps, walks and pounces right on you like he is light as a feather.  Sometimes knocking the wind right out of you.

In a panic today I started searching my files for good pictures of Mowgli... he is like that one uncle that always blinks in every shot, and I was so worried I wouldn't have a good image to remember his perfect blue eyes, dark Siamese markings, his every whisker, or the little split in his ear he got after a frequent run in with Rory.  There weren't any that were good enough, so this morning I laid out a white blanket for him, and he perked up just enough for a few clicks... and for that I am grateful.

I don't want to say goodbye.  I don't want our family of five to become the four of us...  I like being the crazy cat lady who has three little fur balls to welcome her home, to lay with her when she is sad, to fall asleep next to.  He is my buddy, my baby boy, my "mogi", my "pogi" and at just 7 years old.... it is just to soon.