Goodbye to our Roo

I am so very sad to say that our cat Roo passed away on Friday. I had mentioned in my last post that he had been recently sick and we were hoping for the best while he had been at the vet's since Sunday night. We tried everything to figure out what was wrong but were not able to save him. We were surprised to find he had lymphoma despite relatively normal labs and x-rays.

We are really missing him. It is not the same around the house. The other cat, Ellie, and our dog Bailey are acting different and I know they miss him too.

We have so many memories of Roo and we want to share some of them.

We brought Roo home as a little white ball of fur as a small kitten. His coloring and markings developed as he got older. He was the cutest little thing ever! He had the most beautiful blue eyes and gorgeous coat, which he took great pride in and excellently groomed. He was the first pet we got when we were on our own. He adapted well when we added our second cat, Ellie and dog Bailey to the family. He liked dogs but he wasn't sure about most human visitors :)

Roo loved:
-Jamey more than anyone. I was second :)
-scratching the heck out of his scratching posts
-sleeping curled up on our bed and stealing our spot when we got up from a chair
-getting "whisker tugs" and "old fashioned rub-downs" from Jamey
-carrying socks around in his mouth and leaving them outside our bedroom door at night as presents, mewing loudly while doing it
-trying to sneak tastes of yummy food like tuna, milk, Adalyn's cereal, and even brownies by jumping on the counter and sink when we weren't looking
-biting on the broom and running the bristles through his teeth like he was flossing!
-wrestling with wrapping paper tubes, he would wrap his body around them and kick the heck out of the tube!
-catnip and small plastic toys and his small stuffed mouse toy
-jumping, he would leap over the baby gate like a deer and seemed to jump over things just for fun!
-"playing tag" He would chase or be chased by Ellie, Bailey or us, streaking by from room to room, continuing for several rounds!

We weren't sure how Roo would be when Adalyn joined our family but he was always so good with her. He let Adalyn pet him and he helped her learn one of her first words--cat.

Roo had a big personality for a cat, and was known to have a bit of an attitude but that is what made him so unique. He was so curious and always had to be where the action was. He was sure to let us know to be quiet when he was napping! If we sneezed or coughed, he would wake up and give us a meow and a "look!" We will miss all of his antics and everything we learned from him. We'll miss finding those socks strewn around outside the bedroom door and hearing his odd mewing sounds in the middle of the night. We'll miss chasing him off the counter and table. We'll miss picking his long hairs off our clothes. Mostly we'll miss his presence and simply seeing him stroll around the house. He left us much sooner than we ever expected and we will cherish the 7 1/2 years we had him in our lives.

Here are some of our favorite pictures of Roo. The pictures of him as a kitten are not digital so I am not able to post them but he was sure cute!

Roo ready to party


Such beautiful markings


Letting a young Ellie hang out with him


Always curious


Our handsome boy


Teaming up for two against one!


Lounging in Adalyn's room


He loved hanging out in Adalyn's room


Looking at the caged baby


Our Rooski, you may be gone, but you will never be forgotten. We'll miss you!