Why the title of 37 years? Good question! After losing my kitty Tobe, I am without any fur babies for the first time in 37 years. It’s been almost 6 months without him and I miss him all the time. I felt to write about all of my pets over the years as this is significant for me to not have a dog or cat now.
Let’s start with Top Cat. he’s the black and white cat in the photo. He came to me in 1989 when I lived in a new apartment. It is said that they pick you and he did pick me without question. He was an indoor /outdoor cat but mostly outdoor when he wandered up to my door. My recollection of how he showed up is fuzzy, but so was he. He was a large cat, not average. I believe at his best weight he was 12 or 13 pounds. He brought his ‘outdoor’ personality inside with him. He didn’t like the litter box for a while, but gradually adapted. He preferred his outdoor potty in the woods behind my place.
We became great friends and he settled in nicely while going out on his adventures. He was the perfect example of the nine lives cats have. He may have had more. He would wander across busy streets, jump fences and bring home “presents” to me; sometimes half of a bird, possum, mouse or whatever his catch of the day was. He was still doing that and climbing over fences with his catch until he was 15 or older. Quite the kitty. At times he would grab my ankle like I was his catch of the day. That was in the early days of our time together. He also had a propensity to chase large dogs across the yard when they seemed to be trespassers in his opinion. More than once, I would hear a dog yelping only to look outside and see him hot on their trail. He was fierce. He lived to be about 20 as best the vet could tell since he was a stray when he found me.
Next on the pet parade is Gracie Bear, the beautiful long hair, black, white and brown dog in the photo. She was a treasure and the only female pet I ever had. Gracie came to be with me after I dog sat with her for one weekend while her owners went out of town. We bonded immediately. I had just lost my career / job in sales and she fit the bill to cheer me up. When I took her back a few days later, she sat on the porch as I left and whimpered and cried. That broke my heart. And to no surprise, her owners called me and asked if I wanted to adopt her because they had to move and needed to give some of their pets away. The answer from me was an enormous YES!! Like I said, she was my heart, my buddy.
There was only one problem, Top Cat. He did not approve the addition to the family in any way, shape or form but he did know how to handle dogs. There was an adjustment period and they sorted out their differences finally. Another sorting out with Gracie was her attraction to my stuffed animals. She took them as hers. More than once, I had to pick up the remains of what used to be a bear, cat, or dog. I came to the conclusion that she needed a kennel since when I got her she was big but still a puppy at 8 months old. She took to the kennel and learned when I said go to bed that is where she went.
Gracie Bear and I had over 14 delightful years together. A couple of funny and true stories with her are that she was half malamute and half basset hound. Crazy! She was short and stocky with basset hound legs and strong shoulders but short slim legs on the back. She had the fur of a malamute, the bark of a basset hound and the amazing strength of both. When we had a snowfall of over 2 feet, she couldn’t go out to potty. We had to dig a trench but still she tried to get into the deep snow anyway. Stubborn girl. She loved almost everybody she met. Very sweet, funny and always happy.
Gracie got a bladder infection at one point and also put on some weight that the vet said had to go because it was hard on her little legs and back. With a special dog food and green beans daily, she was trim in no time, at 60-65 pounds. I was teased frequently about the green beans but she loved them. Can’t argue with that.
One hot day in July 2004, I came home to find my Top Cat was no where to be found inside. Bless his heart, my ex had let him out (he was frail and probably 20 years old) and left him outside in the horrible heat. Sadly he passed while outside. I was so devastated and grief stricken. And needless to say, very angry with the ex for his negligence. I called some friends over to help give him a decent burial.
Gracie and I were tighter than ever but she missed Top Cat too since they had been together for 10 years. Never fear, another cat was near and soon to join the family. On October 11, 2004, Columbus Day, a neighbor came rolling up with a little red wagon with a cat carrier inside. We had just moved into the new house a few months earlier and I had not met her. This sweet orange tabby kitten, maybe 3 months old, had wandered up and my neighbor was able to get her hands on him. He wouldn’t let anyone else touch him. She was asking everyone around if he belonged to them. My answer was no, of course, but having lost Top Cat a few months earlier, I was ready to take him in. I told her if no one claimed him, please bring him back to me.
Fortunate for me, no one claimed the little guy. I called my Mom, who had lost her orange tabby not long before that named Simon. She suggested I name him Simon and so it was. He was very tiny and had to stay isolated from Gracie Bear since she could unintentionally hurt him. It didn’t take long before they met and became fast friends. In the photo, Simon is the orange kitty. What a fur ball of fun he was too. I had a hammock chair in my office that hung from the ceiling and he would run full speed ahead and dive into it so he could swing and play. What a character. He was an indoor only cat. I never wanted another incident like what happened to Top Cat.
Simon only liked me. He hid from other people, including the ex. Animals know more that we humans about peoples character. He was so smart too. Of course spoiled rotten with so many toys but his favorite was a small fuzzy mouse that made a rattling noise. I still have that today. He would go nuts chasing and playing with it like it was a real mouse.
As time went on, Gracie Bear started to have trouble walking with her back legs. Since her front ones were so strong, her back became an issue with a spinal weakness. This was in 2008 and I kept her going as I could, but finally in October of that year, she let me know that it was time to let her go since. she couldn’t go potty on her own and stopped being interested in food or water. That was what felt like an impossible decision to make and one I had never had to make before. But our pets know best. A friend came over and helped me take her to the vet. Thankfully, I have her ashes, lots of photos and her paw print in clay for a beautiful memory.
As it happens, another pet was on the way. Simon missed Gracie Bear since they became pals and were together over 4 years. I did a weekend of pet sitting for a friend who had several cats and dogs not long after I lost Gracie Bear. She had one very loud talking cat, Tobe. He bonded with me that night after I went to bed. He came it with a toy to play fetch, yes a cat playing fetch. And he talked and talked and talked. Not long after that weekend, my friend called and said she had to relocate and downsize her pets. She knew Tobe and I became pals and she brouht him over to us. It amazed me how Simon and Tobe hit it off after a few hisses, saying, I guess you’re ok. They were fast friends and I like to say brothers from different mothers, born the same year a few weeks apart.
In 2009, it became clear to me that I was to let the house go, the ex was gone and me and I boys were to head west, Colorado Springs. Now that is a story I must tell. I sold stuff, gave stuff away and loaded up a small U-Haul trailer. I stayed with a friend for a month but she was allergic to cats so my boys stayed with the friend that was Tobes first mom. The plan was to head west the Friday after Thanksgiving with a friend who knew I was not to do this cross country trip alone. But woah, I got a call the Sunday before Thanksgiving from my friend who had my boys. “Simon is gone!” Oh I freaked out. At the time I was picking up the trailer 75 miles away.
We printed flyers, reached out to anyone and everyone to come help. I got a pet friendly type of trap and tried putting salmon, tuna, chicken and anything to draw him in. I couldn’t leave him. My heart was so hurt with this. He had been sitting in a window and the screen fell out as did he. I think it was the day before Thanksgiving that I woke up from a dream / vision of Simon. In that, he was on the vets table being checked out and only had a scratch on his nose. On the following Friday, the day we were to leave, that little guy was in the trap. I had put turkey in there. That did it. We promptly loaded up the van, the trailer and stopped by the vet. Only one little scratch on his nose, like my dream. Whew. What a scare I had. So we took off heading to Colorado.
Tobe and Simon did great on the trip and my friend was a huge help. We were in Colorado for only 6 months before relocating to Oregon after meeting my last ex-husband. The boys did great and settled in, so resilient, although not so crazy about Kramer, the Jack Russell Terrier. They never liked him. He passed not long after we got there due to a sad accident. But in one year, 2011, we adopted Willie, the Jack Russell Parson Terrier in the photo, black and white. He was a funny dog and a bit of a spaz if you ask me. Simon never took to him so much, but Tobe and Willie became pals.
In November 2019, Simon suddenly passed at the age of 15 from what appeared to be a seizure or heart attack. I was beyond devasted. Thankfully Tobe and Willie became even better friends and closer to me. I was going through a brutal time with a divorce and then a fall down the stairs in the house in 2020. In all that I discovered my sweet Willie dog had doggie dementia. It was a hard time as he declined over the next few months, but Tobe was his sidekick and always loving on him. In October 2020, Willie had declined to a point of letting him go. I hate making those decisions, but he let me know it was time.
That left Tobe and I as we moved mulitiple time over the next 1 1/2 years. He was so resilient even more that I could have imagined and more than I was I feel. His health was great and so as his companionship. It was just the two of us until he passed in November 2025. I had 37 phenomenal years with all my fur babies. I don’t know from here if I’ll adopt again. Time will tell and I will know. Tobe’s passing hit me extremely hard. Life has changed so much for me in 37 years, but in so many good ways without question.
In closing, my advice to you who have loved ones and fur babies, love them deeply and hold them close. I will see all of mine one day when I cross over that rainbow bridge. Now don’t be sad. This is a celebration of their lives and time with me.