Ella & Rusty & Stu(GA)
Member Since 2010
Remembering Stu (5 October 1997 – 28 September 2010)
Edward and I would like to remember Stu today. We don't want to dwell on that day, a year ago, when we laid him to rest. We want to remember the many happy years we shared.
Stu was our 9/11 kitty. Two weeks after 9/11 we surmised that the ASPCA shelter in New York City would have many newly orphaned cats. We had lost our kitty, Alice, to cancer 8 months earlier and decided to visit the ASPCA to discuss adopting a kitty and thus make room for the expected influx of orphans. Stu caught our eye at once. He was in the "habitat", not in a cage. When he saw us in the "viewing" room, he got up from his pillow, climbed to the top of the catwalk that went all around the habitat, walked the perimeter, jumped down, looked at us, and went back to his pillow. We knew then that he would come home with us that day. We learned that he was 4 years old and had been returned twice to the ASPCA. When we left with Stu in his cardboard carrier, they asked us to "please give him a chance."(!)
The ride home to Brooklyn was an adventure. We started out in a cab, but the streets were gridlock because so many streets were still closed from 9/11. Finally we told the driver to let us off at a subway station. By this time it was rush hour. Stu was in his carrier on the floor, between my feet, surrounded by mobs of people trying to get home. He howled! But when we finally got him to our apartment, he knew immediately that he was home. He started to explore and the first place he jumped was onto the piano. Alice had never been allowed on top of the piano, but it was very clear that it would be impossible to keep Stu off! It became one of his favorite places. His ashes are there now, together with Alice's (she finally got to go on the piano—and she (not Stu) was the cat who loved music!)
We learned quickly Stu's quirks, perhaps the reason he was twice returned: he pounded on doors, particularly at night. If a door was closed, he pounded for it to be opened. If a door was open, he pounded for it to be closed. For the first 2 years of living with Stu we were sleep-deprived. We did get used to it, sort-of. When we were in the process of moving to the Adirondacks and "visited" our house for a year when there was almost no furniture in it, he found the most resonant door in the house and drummed on it.
Other things he liked to do: "sort" the Christmas cards. We left them piled on the piano all year and he would go up there, dig through them, and find his favorite card: a photo card of Edward's colleague's children. This card was licked and licked for years. We couldn't throw it out. No other card would do!
Stu loved to play on the stairs of our apartment building, and, after we moved, in the garden. He liked to hide in the bushes and confound us! He loved his catmint plant and spent a lot of time lying underneath it, almost totally concealed when it was in full bloom.
Stu was a long-term diabetic, diagnosed in January 2006. We knew nothing about FD. We were taught how to shoot (PZI Vet) and told to bring him to the vet about once every 6 weeks for glucose testing. We shot blind for almost 4 years. PZI Vet was discontinued, and, after we moved to the country, Stu was switched to Lantus, but overdosed. We almost lost him (on 8 units bid). I found this board in January 2010 and you wonderful people here literally saved his life. But in the meantime, other health issues were developing (CRF, Hyper-T, and cancer). Stu was a big, strong kitty, but not strong enough to withstand the ravages of these diseases. I told the story of his final days in his condo of 28 September 2010.
Now Edward and I just want to say that Stu's journey here at the Lantus Forum with all of the friends we made here was full of hope and love and kindness. We will never forget the outpouring of sympathy when he crossed to the Bridge. In Lantus-Land lore, Stu had developed into quite a good chef and really enjoyed cooking with his Kitchen Krew at all the LL parties, particularly the full-moon parties, and of those, particularly the ones held at Camp Stu. I know that he is happy that Chef Mannie immediately jumped in to keep the tradition going. There will be a big party at Camp Stu on Halloween, when the veil between those here in LL and those Gone Ahead is the thinnest. Stu will be cooking at the Bridge for all of our GAs and Mannie and his Kitchen Krew (of which Rusty is a proud member) will be cooking at Camp for all of the LL kitties.
Attached are some pictures of a young-adult Stu, and some of his last Spring: (3 pics here; 3 more in part 2 of this condo)
Thank you LL for being here!
Ella & Edward (and Rusty, who understands)
Edward and I would like to remember Stu today. We don't want to dwell on that day, a year ago, when we laid him to rest. We want to remember the many happy years we shared.
Stu was our 9/11 kitty. Two weeks after 9/11 we surmised that the ASPCA shelter in New York City would have many newly orphaned cats. We had lost our kitty, Alice, to cancer 8 months earlier and decided to visit the ASPCA to discuss adopting a kitty and thus make room for the expected influx of orphans. Stu caught our eye at once. He was in the "habitat", not in a cage. When he saw us in the "viewing" room, he got up from his pillow, climbed to the top of the catwalk that went all around the habitat, walked the perimeter, jumped down, looked at us, and went back to his pillow. We knew then that he would come home with us that day. We learned that he was 4 years old and had been returned twice to the ASPCA. When we left with Stu in his cardboard carrier, they asked us to "please give him a chance."(!)
The ride home to Brooklyn was an adventure. We started out in a cab, but the streets were gridlock because so many streets were still closed from 9/11. Finally we told the driver to let us off at a subway station. By this time it was rush hour. Stu was in his carrier on the floor, between my feet, surrounded by mobs of people trying to get home. He howled! But when we finally got him to our apartment, he knew immediately that he was home. He started to explore and the first place he jumped was onto the piano. Alice had never been allowed on top of the piano, but it was very clear that it would be impossible to keep Stu off! It became one of his favorite places. His ashes are there now, together with Alice's (she finally got to go on the piano—and she (not Stu) was the cat who loved music!)
We learned quickly Stu's quirks, perhaps the reason he was twice returned: he pounded on doors, particularly at night. If a door was closed, he pounded for it to be opened. If a door was open, he pounded for it to be closed. For the first 2 years of living with Stu we were sleep-deprived. We did get used to it, sort-of. When we were in the process of moving to the Adirondacks and "visited" our house for a year when there was almost no furniture in it, he found the most resonant door in the house and drummed on it.
Other things he liked to do: "sort" the Christmas cards. We left them piled on the piano all year and he would go up there, dig through them, and find his favorite card: a photo card of Edward's colleague's children. This card was licked and licked for years. We couldn't throw it out. No other card would do!
Stu loved to play on the stairs of our apartment building, and, after we moved, in the garden. He liked to hide in the bushes and confound us! He loved his catmint plant and spent a lot of time lying underneath it, almost totally concealed when it was in full bloom.
Stu was a long-term diabetic, diagnosed in January 2006. We knew nothing about FD. We were taught how to shoot (PZI Vet) and told to bring him to the vet about once every 6 weeks for glucose testing. We shot blind for almost 4 years. PZI Vet was discontinued, and, after we moved to the country, Stu was switched to Lantus, but overdosed. We almost lost him (on 8 units bid). I found this board in January 2010 and you wonderful people here literally saved his life. But in the meantime, other health issues were developing (CRF, Hyper-T, and cancer). Stu was a big, strong kitty, but not strong enough to withstand the ravages of these diseases. I told the story of his final days in his condo of 28 September 2010.
Now Edward and I just want to say that Stu's journey here at the Lantus Forum with all of the friends we made here was full of hope and love and kindness. We will never forget the outpouring of sympathy when he crossed to the Bridge. In Lantus-Land lore, Stu had developed into quite a good chef and really enjoyed cooking with his Kitchen Krew at all the LL parties, particularly the full-moon parties, and of those, particularly the ones held at Camp Stu. I know that he is happy that Chef Mannie immediately jumped in to keep the tradition going. There will be a big party at Camp Stu on Halloween, when the veil between those here in LL and those Gone Ahead is the thinnest. Stu will be cooking at the Bridge for all of our GAs and Mannie and his Kitchen Krew (of which Rusty is a proud member) will be cooking at Camp for all of the LL kitties.
Attached are some pictures of a young-adult Stu, and some of his last Spring: (3 pics here; 3 more in part 2 of this condo)
Thank you LL for being here!
Ella & Edward (and Rusty, who understands)
