November holds the time set aside in the United States for reflecting on the things in our lives for which we are thankful, and my cats are always pushing at the top of the list. When we bow our heads to give blessings before Thanksgiving dinner, we'll remember all the cats we have known and loved, past and present. They fill a huge place in our lives, and we're ever thankful that they have chosen us to be their humans.
Here, then is my own tribute to some special cats I'm thankful to have known, on the occasion of Thanksgiving in the U.S.
Bubba, pictured here, graced our home for 18 years and left behind a legacy of love, which is what Thanksgiving is all about to me.
PhotoCredit: © Franny Syufy
Comments
What a great article! I will also be offering thanks for the cats who have brought joy to my life this Thursday
Happy Thanksgiving, Franny!
Thanks for the upbeat site. I lost one
of my cats today, inoperable bladder
stones, and I will thank
Thanks for your upbeat site. I lost one of my cats today. and I thank God
that I was priviledged to have Comanche
for 12 years.
Thanks, Jess! Happy Thanksgiving to you, too!
Dear mscalico,
I am so terribly sorry that you lost Comanche so close to Thanksgiving. Almost 10 years ago, we lost our Arthur around the same time, and we give thanks for having her company for so long every year.
My sincere condolences, along with my empathy.
Franny -
I had a very nice white cat, Shawn, for seven years (got him for Christmas in 1995; he was only nine weeks old at the time and a real handful at first!). Had to have him put to sleep in 2002 due to very severe liver damage. I’m thankful for the time he was with me, though, as well as being thankful for the white cat I adopted two years later. The amazing thing about the cat I have now, Jonah, is that he looks like and has almost the same personality (affectionate, cute, etc.) my Shawn did. I feel very fortunate and am thankful as well that I was able to find a cat so much like the one I lost two years ago. Some times I think Jonah must have been Shawn’s twin brother.
I’m sorry to have read about your cat Bubba passing away. Eighteen years is a long and full life for a cat, though, so you had a long time to enjoy him.
Happy Thanksgiving, to you, your family, and all your cats. I read your email newsletters every day and am learning more about cats with each one I get.
Kind regards,
Jeff (and a “meow” from Jonah)
Through out my 57 years, rarely have I been without a cat to calm the storms of life. As many as they may have been, as life altering as some were, always I had a cat to share my good days and bad.
Lost jobs and relationships, I shared with my constant companion. Always, always I found comfort and acceptance, solance and love from some of the greatest blessings in my life, a cat.
And I am indeed, “Thanksgiving” for the furry ball of love in my lap.
I too, like Vince, have had these wonderful creatures over the years during the storms of my life. The gracious acceptance of us, regardless of our mood at the time, couples with their inate ability to pull us out of ourselves and bac to being their human.
Hi,
My cat a is a blessing to me everyday they say that cats don’t talk and yet my cat expresses herself to me in numerous ways that I always know what she wants; my sister had a cat and just lost her due to feline leukema so she is loving on my cat more but I am very thankful for my cat
I had my cat of 24 years leave me on Thanksgiving Day 2 years ago.Last year on Thanksgiving Day her daughter of 23 years passed away on the same day.This year I am thankful for all of the Cats that I have and what inspiration the two that passed on this day of given me
Hi, Franny! What a beautiful boy Bubba was. He reminds me so much of our big guy, Morton, who was with us for 21 years. What a blessing each and every one is! Thank you for bringing we catlovers together. /d
Thank you for the wonderful reminder to be thankful for all our beloved furry friends. I lost my beloved 20 year old, Chopper this year. He helped me through some difficult times, I beleive he was an angel. I remembered him today & gave thanks for my new white kitten, Sophie Lilac who has eased the pain of losing Chopper.
Franny, so sorry about your Bubba. He is one handsome boy! Thank YOU for saying it like it is: We are so very blessed and thankful our precious loves have chosen us to be THEIR humans. This is a wonderful legacy of LOVE!
God Bless!
char
Thats for the article. I lost Jimmy in May of 2004 and have never forgot him. He died on the way to the Vets on my lap in my car. He was diabetic and had lots of problems, but was full of love. He was 11.
Thanks to everyone who left tributes of thanks to their own great cats, past and present.
I read unconditional love and thanks in every word, which are two things we receive daily from our cats.
We had a marvelous Thanksgiving yesterday, and Jaspurr was the only character who got into the roast turkey.
Franny
Kirwan the MagnifiCat was my best friend, my son, my baby–for 13 years. He came into our lives when my Mother began her journey to Eternity, and stayed by her side for the two years of that journey. The next 11 years were filled with his absolute devotion to me, through thick and thin. My beautiful boy died on September 11th, 2006–and my heart is overwhelmed with sadness. I’ll love and miss him forever, my faithful friend, my only family…and I will always be grateful to God, that He gave me such a wonderful love experience through my Big Red. Thank You, Lord…thank you, Kirwan. I miss you, Baby Boy. Love, Mommy.
As I read through all the comments about people’s beloved cats, it just strenthened my belief that cats are truly amazing, and how well they recognize our needs.
We lost our beloved Sasha, who was 21 years old on May 11, 2005. There’s not a day that goes by that I don’t think of her — especially that last week of her life. She came up on the bed, stood at my feet, looked hard at me, then turned away and jumped off the bed!
(She usually slept on my chest, bundled up)!
She knew — because she went downhill after that.
We loved her, she was our family!
Thanks for sharing your experiences with your feline friends of the past. We have Squeeky, now 17 and one we acquired three years ago when he was 10, so we know we face losing these loving, wonderful friends. Sampson, Mandy, Gray Tim are still in our memories of over 35 years and I would not want anything any other way.
Yes, God Bless all the cats in our lives. We lost our beloved Cricket in 2005 but received a blessing when Rita, our 1 yr old Siamese-mix came into our lives. I believe that she was picked out by Angel-Cricket and God to help fill the lonely spot that was left. Rita is my constant companion as well as our Border Collie’s best buddy. She brightens our life and always keeps me smiling.
We have lost many cats over the years and all were memorable;#1 Suddy, Chocolate Point Siamese,#2 Sookie, Champagne Mink Tonkinese, #3 Greta, TortiePoint Siamese, #4 Cimmanon, Orange/White DSH, #5 Poppy,Black and White DSH, #6 Sparky, Black and White DSH, #7 Pooh, Black and White DSH, #8 Sud, SealPoint Siamese, #9 Prija, Seal Point Siamese, and Kew, SealPoint Siamese. I will meet you all later I hope.
Having just lost or had stolen our third cat in a dozen years, I am thankful for all three. Each had a story and gave us love unconditionally. Schnuky, the last, perched on a fence shelf in our alley waiting for my truck to come home. Instead of the hole in my heart, I give thanks for the 11 years we had him.
Their love is infinite,their wisdom and devotion,breath taking.They touch us where humans can NEVER reach. My loves that have passed ,I miss you.My loves that are here ,now I adore you. My cats,have taught be to be a better person.I am truely blessed.
I think your article was a good reminder.In my many years there have been many cats.I would like to take this time to remember Ms.Kittie,my companion of 13years,she went home to Bast on 24 November 2006.She had liver and kidney problems all her life,there was nothing more to be done.I miss her,and am glad for the time we had together.
Maxwell the Cat and I were melancholy on the one year anniversary of losing our beloved Jack the Cat (11/22) and the day after. Despite it being Thanksgiving, we just were in a funk, but proceeded to give thanks with our human family (my parents who are elderly and my two brothers). Maxwell and I could feel Jack and said we remember him and love him still and are thankful he was a part of our lives. We miss Jack. Then I thanked Maxwell for being in my life and being such a good nurse maid, as he always nurses me and keeps an eye on me, as I do him.
^..^
I have to thank God I have not experienced the loss of a pet. LovBug went missing for 18 days. The agony, the heartbreak, the relentless searching and praying and never giving up hope and finally the communication by way of mental telepathy.
All this and more finally brought her back home—half dead. I can’t imagine where I would be if she were still out there or worse, if she had died out there and I never got any word. You have been through a lot of heartache, I know. God bless you and keep you and your darlings safe.
I joined this newsletter shortly before I had to put my precious buddy “Budweiser” to rest, a week ago yesterday. He suffered from FIP, which is a fatal and incurable disease. He was not even three years old yet. Although he did not get to enjoy a life of longevity, he was very special to me in the short time I did have him here with me. He had the best personality of any cat I have ever owned, and my heart with ache forever. People say that cats just “don’t bond”, and if you have ever owned a cat, you know that is not true. I miss my kitty pawing at the door to be let downstairs with my husband while he did his morning ritual, his kisses on my nose, his love bites to my cheeks, and his constant desire to be totally cuddled up to me whenever I was home. I miss that little bug, and have finally gone the last two days without crying over him. He will always be with me, as I had him cremated, and he sits in my bedroom, next to me like he alwasy liked to be. Animals leave very tender impressions on your life, and without them through my bad times, who knows how I would have managed at times.
My Cat just died, her name is Tanya. I have known her all my life (I am almost 11 years old). When I was small she safed my live (she woke uo my father by biting him when I had thrown up and was suffocated). Yesterday we had to put her to sleep as she had cancer and was already 18 years old.
From Sientje, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
I wish you comfort on the loss of Commanche.
I love the article. It is still hard for me to think about the cats I loved who are not with me now.
I also feel sorry for those who don’t know what it is to be loved by a cat.
nice article, we are thankfull that our old cat 17 is still with us this year after she was sick the first time in her life in spring and we thought until the tests were back that this is may the end.
Thanks god, she had “only” some crystals and recoverd completly. Since that she got more spoiled than ever….
can t imagne the live without her even though i know she has to go one day….
Oh, *Franny*!
Franny,
Sady, our pets are overlooked when we give thanks. I remember one Thanksgiving; I couldn’t attend my family’s festivities because I just had major surgery. Our cat was laying next to me, very attentively. I said to her, “Right now, everyone’s giving thanks for family & friends. But how many are thanking God for their pets? I’m thankful that I have you”. After that, she snuggled closer to me & gave me a kiss. I truely believe she understood every word.
Franny, I just read your article on “The Feline-Human Bond of Love” and I have a correction for you. Felines do NOT have fur, they have hair and there are a lot of reasons why that you could look up.
Hi Norman,
You’ll find my response to your comment on today’s main page.
As a cat lover and the owner of 2 lovely felines I really appreciate your article. Only a true cat person can truly appreciate what these wonderful animals add to our daily lives.