It starts, for us, with the Austin SPCA on 183 near ih-35 in 2000. We went in, I'm not quite sure how Mrs got me to do so as we were quite happy with our (then) two cats Cleo and Loki. However, upon seeing the kitten to be later known as Mystery, seeing his slightly infected incision from being fixed, having him hug on me and lick my nose for ten minutes, it came without shock nor hesitation that we would force the SPCA to let us adopt him.

Mystery recovered from his stitches and his cold quickly under our ministrations, and aside from some minor "I'm bigger than you" events with our older resident (Loki) to establish superiority in the pride Mystery blended in as the new guy quite easily. Mystery evolved into a delicate and spindly feline, with the wierd aspect that he rarely jumped - from what we say he was pidgeon-toed and his hind-legs would never quite cooperate as he wanted them to. This was not an insurmountable obstacle for him as with his greater body length he could climb up and down pretty much anything he wanted to, with ease.

The ease, however, started to go out a few years ago, and we started to notice him becoming more and more gaunt over time. The fact that Mystery never really wanted wet food nor much food at most any time we found suspicious, but a nice change from the food-mongers that Cleo and Loki tended to be. Last year this situation got pretty significant though, and we began to notice how much difficulty Mystery was having with simple tasks. Like walking around. Over the past year we've seen it get to the point where he has not been able to walk from the living room to the kitchen for a snack without stopping to rest. Over the winter, we began seeing times when Mystery would not be able, basically, to use his hindquarters at all. Either dragging himself along, or simply waiting it out.

The fact that while there were times when he obviously wanted attention, but once begun he could not tolerate it for more than a few moments - even the most gentle of attention - and we knew something was up. It took a couple visits to the vet, and eventually a visit with a specialist, to figure out that not only did Mystery have a sort of degenerative muscle disorder, but that it was essentially untreatable. The Mrs and I do not belive in going to "any" length just to prolong life, when the quality of life is going to be pathetic, nor for the reason that it is better for us (the humans) over the wellfare of the pet.

This has led us to the very uncomfortable position of planning for Mystery's final nap. We remain very cautious about this one-way choice though. However, when we returned home last Sunday from being out at Warda all weekend Mystery was simply crying gently in obvious great discomfort. Unable to sustain contact with anyone else, for any length of time. It was neither food nor touch that he wanted. In the end, that evening, we gave him the first of the pain medication that we had been given, and that eventually seemed to help him as he quieted down and was able to slink away to a quiet hole to nap in. Pain meds continued through the week until last night when he at last got the relief that he so craved.

We are both very upset but know that he is in a better place. He graced us with his life and we were blessed to have known him.

March 19th ... Taffety gave birth to 3 healthy kittens during the day ...

April 13th ... The wonderful momma that Taffety is, she has accepted 4 motherless kittens. Now there are seven kittens and they are such a joy ... (see pictures)