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Thursday and Friday night we went to see the new Harry Potter movie. Thursday night, we went alone. Friday night, we took my momma. Yes, Katherine and I are way more obsessed than you.

Yesterday afternoon Adonis (AKA The Ming, Mingy, Mingy Megow Wow, Mingy Boy, Mingy-donis, Mr. Megow Wow, etc for about forty different names), our oldest male cat had a barfing fit. While always kind of disturbing, those of you who have long haired cats will understand why we weren't to terribly concerned. Cat licks himself, cat swallows fur, cat pukes. Repeat ad nausium. All cats have hairballs, and puking is the feline national pastime.

Fast forward to about 2:00 AM. Katherine brings the Ming down stairs. His fur is dull, he isn't talking, he isn't trying frantically to escape from Katherine's arms, he can barely stand up, and he's horribly dehydrated. He's also running a fever and refusing food and water.

This is bad. I put down my copy of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone and go find the cat carrier we aren't using as temporary housing for the new kittens. We then get in the car and drive across town to the 24 hour animal hospital.

The animal hospital was probably the most horrible experience I've ever had. The vet tells us immediately that he's dangerously dehydrated and emaciated. I could tell he'd been losing a bit of weight, but he was 13 years old. You kind of expect that.

He also says there are several odd masses in his abdomen.

He goes out and comes back with an estimate. $1300 dollars for the preliminary treatment and tests. In other words, $1300 dollars to give him some fluids and then find out what the problem is.

At the bottom of the page, there's a statement that they don't expect him to live.

They wanted $300 just to give him fluids and release him. There was a note at the bottom of that page saying they really didn't expect him to live.

Cats aren't like people. They don't complain about being sick or hurt. They have to be almost dead before their behavior changes in the slightest. I knew it was serious as soon as he started refusing food and water.

Katherine wasn't taking any of this well. I was doing okay until she put him in my arms.

At which point I completely lost it.

I knew the decision that needed to be made, but I couldn't do it.

Mingy and I were never beer buddies. We weren't the kind of friends who hang out on Saturday night and ogle the chicks. Mingy was jealous. Katherine belonged to him, and he didn't want to share. He told me that the first time I met him, and many times there after.

But we had an arrangement.

Katherine has sleep apnea. Bad sleep apnea. So bad that before she got her CPAP I couldn't sleep in the same room if I wanted to sleep at all. Mingy use to come get me whenever she stopped breathing so I could go wake her up and tell her she needed to roll over.

In exchange for waking her up and telling her she needed to start breathing again, I got visiting privileges and he refrained from trying to kill me by dropping heavy objects on my head the way he use to do with Katherine's previous boyfriend.

In the six years I lived with the possessive little furball, we actually got to be really good friends. He was still terribly jealous, but he eventually started letting me pet him, and even over the last couple of years marching up to me and demanding it. Taking into account the number of times he tried to kill Katherine's ex, I'm not sure I can communicate just how flattering this was.

Or how much I loved the little guy.

Adonis was our second smallest cat, and our smallest male. Healthy, he weighed less than two fifths what our largest weighed. He was also the alpha. In six years, he never once had to actually hit Hermes (our largest male at about twenty-five pounds). All he had to do was tell Hermes he was about to throw down and Hermes would slink away with his tale between his legs.

Adonis was our prettiest cat. He knew this. He worked it. I've seen beauty pageant winners who spent less time preening that he did.

Adonis was our most responsible cat. He would let us know when the food dish or water dish was empty and when we filled it, he'd wait until all the others had eaten and drank before he had anything.

Adonis was our sweetest cat. When we got Iphigenia, he was the first to play with her. He use to play chase all over the apartment with her. He never smacked anyone who wasn't starting trouble and rarely smacked someone who was.

Adonis was our second most protective cat. Persephone, little miss "I am going to attack the landlord for working on the stove" actually wins in this category, but Adonis never hesitated to tell someone they didn't belong there and should leave before he dropped heavy framed paintings on their head.

Adonis was absolutely, totally, and madly in love with Katherine. See above comments about jealously and attempts to kill previous boyfriend by dropping heavy objects on his head. He also had a habit of attempting to steal Katherine's underwear when she was getting dressed on the theory that it would keep her from leaving the house.

Adonis was our second smartest cat. Again, Persephone takes the prize here, but Adonis was still scary smart. After all, he did figure out that heavy objects to the head would get rid of Katherine's ex, and was able to work out the underwear stealing plan. He was also a master of the "Come quick Timmy, old man Smith's fallen down the well!" dance.

Adonis was our most maternal cat. You'd think Persephone, as the mother cat, would win this one, but Adonis was a much better mother cat. At least, after a kitten was weaned.

Adonis was our vainest cat. Nothing upset him more than an insult to his dignity, like, say Iphigenia grabbing him by the scruff of the neck and ridding him down the hall like a pony.

Adonis was our most loved cat. What ever the tensions between the other cats, all of them, even Persephone, adored Adonis.

Around 4:00 AM last night Adonis died. To my shame, I didn't have it in me to be in the room while the vet administered the injection that ended his suffering. I held him one last time, I said I loved him and I said goodbye. Then I went and threw up while my friend died.

Then I came home and I got very, very drunk.

It didn't help. I woke up this morning, and there's still this horrible hole where my friend was. It still hurts, I'm still crying, and I still miss him.