Tributes
C’mon Parker, this way. Oh my goodness, its Parker #7 and look, there’s Trans Am, Romeo, Buffy, Baby and General. Not only that but they’re all young and healthy again and playing with the stamina of kittens! It’s time to cross over the Rainbow Bridge. My friends of long ago are waiting for me but
before I go, Id like to say my final Thank You to all my friends of many years at the Pat Brody Shelter.
I came to the shelter many years ago with a lot of other cats. We were kept in a basement by a cat collector and we were terrorized by kids chasing us all the time. That’s one of the reasons I kept my distance from everyone once I arrived here. I’ve always enjoyed the company of other cats and the fact that I never had to beg for food, bedding or litter just made this place seem all the more a haven for me.
Some of the long time volunteers knew who I was and some would even try to pet me, just a little bit. Ha! I was too fast for them. When I saw cameras try to take my photo, they had to zoom in on me so I wouldn’t get spooked. A few managed to succeed in taking my photo so I could be posted on the Sponsored Cats page
As some of my older friends passed away the younger cats started to look up to me for advice. I observed what tactics would work when a cat wanted to go home to a family and I shared my wisdom. I was perfectly happy here so all I had to do was run away if someone came close to me. Things were going smoothly for many years, but eventually, my age started creeping up on me and I knew my days were numbered.
Recently, my body was trying to fight lymphoma but alas, it was a losing battle. So, I decided since all my long time friends were so nice to me, it was my turn to give them a special Thank You. Did you notice how I stopped hiding and actually started to look at the door for food? Then, when I was put in a cage, I let the volunteers pet me and I even gave a few of them head butts. That was my way of saying Thank You. There are too many names to mention and to tell you the truth, I started to forget everyone’s name but I’m sure you’ll forgive me for being absent-minded.
C’mon Parker, we need you to play Tag with us and we have a nice comfy bed reserved for you. My friends are calling me again but I have a few requests
before I cross the Rainbow Bridge. Just keep doing what you’re doing. Take care of cats in need and place them in the best homes you possibly can. Don’t forget to spend time with some of the timid cats because they’re the ones that need you the most.
It’s been a joy knowing you all but as you can see, my rejuvenated friends are calling for me to join them. Oh yeah, they say Thank You for the time you gave them when they were at the Pat Brody Shelter too. Good Bye to all and I’m sending lots of purrs and kisses your way.
Thanks again.
Your old pal,
Parker #2/Clem (my alias name)
Look at all these former alumni from the Pat Brody Shelter. They’re having so much fun being young again that no one delivered my letter back to my friends at the Pat Brody Shelter before I crossed the Rainbow Bridge. Trans Am, weren’t you supposed to deliver my letter for me? No Sidney, I only deliver letters or messages in months that end in Am. Trans Am, there are no months that end in am oops I guess you’ll have to catch the Winds of Time to carry your message over the bridge, Sidney. Look, here they come now here’s my letter, here’s my letter.
Hello everyone,
Many of you remember me living most of my short life at the Pat Brody Shelter and I want to thank all who had the patience to work with me. Did you know that when I was only a few months old I actually got adopted for a few months? It’s true, but for some reason, I was returned.
Now I know I wasn’t the friendliest of kitties, and I really made some of you work just to pet me but I just preferred the company of other cats more than people, please don’t be offended, that was just my purrsonality. Either I liked you or I didn’t. There was a tall lady that I used to have a routine with. I would only let her pet me if she had some A/D in a dish for me. She would alert me by calling out Mr. Sidney, Mr. Sid – ney and I would come running from whatever shelf I was on. Then, I’d back up a little and she’d say You know the rules, I can pet you when you’re eating and that’s exactly what I did and then I would scoot when I was done eating. She would laugh every time (it doesn’t take much to amuse some people, does it?).
Anyway, while I was at the shelter, I met a very special kitty named Grady who has a cute-stache under her nose. She would snuggle with me daily and we both kept each other well-groomed. Please be kind enough to let her know I’m thinking about her and that she needs to concentrate on getting a home. Thats why I wanted my message to get over the Rainbow Bridge.
Ok my times almost up and I got a bunch of cats saying hello. Let’s see, Romeo, Buffy, Bucky, Wilma, Parker #2 & #7, Yellow Fur, Mingo and Trans Am to name a few. As always, thanks so much to everyone, a special thank you to Donna for those special treats she always had for me and hugs and kisses to all. XXXOOO from the one and only, Mr. Sidney.
Wooo, wooo, wooo, wooo Whooosh!! Whats that, who goes there? We’re the Winds of Time, Windy, and we will take your story back to your loved ones at the Pat Brody Shelter before you cross the Rainbow Bridge.
Well, I was a homeless cat for a while and someone thought I was going to freeze during the winter so they put me in a cardboard box and dropped me off on the doorsteps of the Pat Brody Shelter early in the morning. Fortunately, the Team Leader arrived early that day and found the box I was in. Her heart sank when she
saw a pair of eyes looking at her from the box. She rushed me inside out of the cold and set up a cage for me so I could warm up and had food and water ready for me. This was the kindest thing anyone had done for me in a while. She wasn’t sure if I was a friendly or mean cat so she took my box to the cage and gently allowed me to enter the cage on my own. Since it was windy outside that day and she wasn’t sure if I was male or female, I was dubbed Windy and kept the name ever since.
From there, I was taken to the vets where they estimated me to be 18-20 years old. I caught a terrible cold and I didn’t have an appetite for some time. Through medication and force feeding, I regained my strength and I was allowed to be with the other cats in Room 3. Hey, I may have been older than most of the cats, but I still had a lot of spunk left in me. I didn’t appreciate being bothered by some of the younger cats and I would chase them away if they didn’t let me have some privacy when needed.
I did get adopted but long story short, things didn’t work out. Once I came back, the volunteers did their best to look after me, some would give me treats, some would just pet me and everyone agreed that I was a beautiful kitty, especially after a brushing. I started losing weight and after a visit to the vets, they confirmed that I had kidney disease. I was brought into the kitchen where they could keep an eye on me. Naboo and Padme were always nice to me and Valerie was fine as long as I ignored her. I lost my zest for living and started to look worse as the days went on. It was finally my time to go and the next thing I know, I ended up here.
So, here’s my chance to say Thank You to everyone who put me on the Kitty Watch list, made sure I was comfortable when I wasn’t feeling well and just spend a few minutes to whisper kind words to me. Wooo, wooo, wooo, wooo Whoosh!! Now what are you trying to tell me Winds of Time? Windy, it’s your time and you may cross the bridge. Oh no, I’m not going to be alone am I? This time I really do want some company. Take a look before crossing and you won’t be disappointed. My Goodness, its Ernie, and look over there Sidney and wait can that be the infamous Trans Am? They’re all lively and look great! Ok, I’m ready now here I go. Wow, I’m starting to gain weight and feel great. Wait, wait for me . . . . Goodbye all and think of me when you have an older kitty that needs some TLC.
On June 17th Bud left us to go over the Rainbow Bridge. After battling CRF, Hypertension and Anemia, Bud lost the battle. It was eleven months ago that we decided to take Bud in to our home so that he could retire. Bud was given to the shelter when he was thirteen years old because his owner became homeless. Bud and his owner were homeless for some time until his owner was concerned for Bud’s well being. I heard that it was so hard for this poor man to give up Bud after thirteen years. He took care of Bud better than himself. On July 16th after almost two and a half years at the shelter Bud came home with us. I had tried to convince my husband that we should take Bud in because he was never going to find a home. I often went to room 4 to visit the seniors and special needs cat. There were two cats that just got to me Bud and Husa. They got to me because they had been there for so long. Each month when I visited room 4 I would hope that someone would come and adopt one of these seniors. I was asked why I chose Bud. I chose him because he was one of the oldest cats at the shelter. Bud was not a friendly cat by any means (at least at the shelter he wasn’t). His story said something like this. “I can be friendly WHEN I warm up to you but you have to earn my purrs” This was somewhat true as far as the purrs go.
He never purred for us but he became the most friendly and sweet cat. After he passed on I had a dream that he finally purred for me then he left us.
So on July 16th I went to the shelter to take Bud. I had this huge carrier because I was afraid that he would not be too happy in a small carrier. I spotted him in a cat tree in room 2 taking a nap. So I went over to try to pick him up to put him in the carrier. He let out this big hiss and gave me the dirtiest look I had seen in a cat. I went down to the office to tell Priscilla that I had a hard time getting Bud into the carrier. She sent Darlene over to get Bud. Darlene grabbed him so fast and put him in the carrier that he had no time to hiss.
On the way home Bud was so curious that he stood up in the cage and looked out the window. The drive home was about an hour and he stood up the whole time. He had this look on his face “I am going home”.
When we brought him home he hid for two days under the futon. After that he smacked all the other cats in the house. All the cats were scared of him. Bud became the boss of the house. After two days he moved upstairs for another few days. After that he began coming downstairs to scope out the place and smack the cats again.
I took Bud in for a checkup and blood work. They told me that he really needed some dental work done and a cleaning. They also found out that he had kidney disease and hypertension. Soon he went for his dental. He ended up getting thirteen teeth out. They said that he had a major dental infection which probably made him even more grouchy. They sent me home with Sub q, painkillers and norvasc for the hypertension. The first time I tried doing his fluids he gave me a really dirty look and hissed at me. For the next week or so I brought him to the vet to get his fluids done. Once he started feeling better he started to become really social. From then on I began doing his fluids at home. Every other day I had to do his fluids. I could hardly believe how good he was when it was time for fluids. He would just lay there until I was done. When it was time for his medications he was really good too.
Eventually, Bud only wanted to be where we were. Each night when I would come home from work he would greet me at the door and rub his face on my foot. As I got the TV tray ready for dinner he would sit with me from start to finish. After dinner I would watch my soap and he would sit on my lap. In the mornings when the alarm clock went off he would come upstairs to the bathroom so that he could be with me. He would smack any cat who tried to come into the bathroom. He wanted to be with his mama. I thought that it was really cute because he became so attached to me and I became so attached to him. He did not miss a single night of dinner in front of the TV. When Noah and I would eat on our TV trays for dinner Bud would sit between us like a kid. He would watch us as we were eating. He use to get so excited when he heard the TV tray being set up. During these times with Bud we started calling him Budzoli because every time I would eat Italian food he would go crazy! One time he put his paw in my linguine. We were convinced that Bud was Italian! Sometimes we would give him some plain pasta or pasta with some sauce. He absolutely loved it. My dinners were planned out according to what Bud liked too. Due to his CRF sometimes his appetite was not the best so I would give him some of my dinner. Sometimes I would bring his bowl of food to the couch so that we could eat together.
Another nick name that bud got was “Grandpa”. If two cats got into a confrontation Bud had to go and see what was going on. He became so worried when two cats got into a confrontation. He would look left and right with this worried look. Another time that I called him grandpa was when I was trimming one of my cat’s nails. This cat can be very feisty so it was very difficult to trim her nails. So as I am cutting the cat’s nails the cat is hissing and meowing at me. Bud jumps off his cat bed and gives me this worried look and meows at me to let her go. He did this on several occasions when I was trimming the cat’s nails. He was such a caring cat. He was very protective of the females. He had many moments where he was the “Grandpa” of all the cats. When my brother and mother came and met bud they fell in love with him. Bud sat on their laps all weekend. On weekends Bud would come upstairs at 6:00 a.m. sharp to wake me up to feed him. When I would not get up he would sleep on top of me while I was sleeping on my side. It was the cutest thing I had ever seen. In time I was able to hold Bud which was such a break through. As I would hold him he would hold on to me and squeeze me with his paws.
We also had “Turkey Night” on Thursday’s Noah brought turkey home for the cats. Bud never missed turkey night. Each Thursday as we prepared the turkey on the counter Bud could not wait so he would jump on the counter over and over again to try to steal a piece of turkey. After he finished his turkey he would spend about another half an hour jumping on all the counters looking for more turkey. Now that he is gone we do not have the heart to have turkey night for a while. They say that animals remember who adopted them and who takes care of them. I think that this may be true because Bud was so attached to me.
Every six to eight weeks we would get his blood test and blood pressure check. Bud had always been a high numbers cat. Due to his hypertension it was very hard to control his numbers. Along with norvasc he was also put on Ace Inhibitors. We were able to keep his phosphorus levels under control for a very long time. Throughout his fight with CRF Bud ate so well even when his numbers were very high. About six weeks ago Bud became severely anemic. He was still eating but he was really weak. We had to do Epogen injections which did get his anemia under control but it raised his blood
pressure really badly. About a week and a half ago I brought Bud in for a full checkup. The vet called me later that afternoon to tell me that Bud’s numbers had gone up so high that she was surprised that he was still eating and looking so good. For the first time his phosphorus levels were also high. The vet prescribed phosphorus binders to put in his food. After the vet called with the bad news I began to worry so bad that I got sick an hour later. Bud was at the end stage of renal failure. He had such a will to live because he loved being with us so much and he loved being in a home.
During his last week he began sleeping more and eating less each day. On Friday night he stopped eating for the first time. I ran to the store to get him some turkey baby food. Even though I knew that he was going down I did not want him to starve. He did eventually eat some of the baby food. On Saturday morning (June 17th) Bud would not eat at all. I ended up force feeding him in the morning. Each hour Bud began to deteriorate. At one time he was just lying there. Every now and then he would lift his head up. He was throwing up phlegm and as he walked he was weak. At that time I knew that our time together was coming to an end. It was Saturday so our vet had closed really early. I picked up Bud and put him in his carrier. I took Bud to the emergency vet to help him cross the Rainbow Bridge. As I held Bud and looked into his beautiful green eyes one last time I thought about how much I was going to miss him. I told him that I loved him. Bud truly became one of my favorites. If I could do anything differently I would have adopted him a long time ago. I am thankful for the eleven months that I had with him. We will miss him terribly!
Lisa & Noah
BRUCE & GEORGE
FRIENDS FOREVER
by Darlene David
Slow down Bruce, I’m having trouble keeping up. That’s why I’m trying to hurry, George, so we can cross the Rainbow Bridge and be free of pain. But Bruce, shouldn’t we take a few minutes to thank everyone who helped us out while we were alive? I guess you’re right, George, lets slow down and do that now.
Ok Bruce, what was your life like before the Pat Brody Shelter? It wasn’t pretty,
George. I traveled with a homeless woman for a while, and once she couldn’t take care of me, she demanded that they take me at the shelter. She left really fast and didn’t tell them that I was FIV+, close to 20 years old and was hyper-thyroid and literally, was on my last legs. The shelter did its best to keep me healthy. Heck, my fur even grew back but I just couldn’t seem to gain weight. Since they put me in the kitchen, I got lots of attention and I tried to thank everyone by giving them lots of love and purrs.
Ok George, now your turn. Well, I used to have a home but my former guardians abandoned me with a lot of other cats. I lived outside for 3 years and a neighbor fed us. I was blind in one eye and had a damaged ear from a bad case of mites. I guess I looked as bad as you did, Bruce, when I arrived. Then, sadly, I got cancer and was in a lot of pain. I did enjoy all the attention I got from being in the kitchen and best of all, I made friends with you, Bruce.
So many volunteers to thank, God, did you know their names? I know there was a June & Jim, a Crystal & Dan and then everything gets blurry from there but thank you everyone for looking after us. You know your names better than we do. We were so loved in our last months of life and we have all of you to thank.
Over here guys. Hey, look there’s Machius with his person Paul. Oh no, we were homeless who’ll be over the bridge to care for us? Don’t worry, there’s Pat Brody, George Bibby, Linda Morin and Norma Kelly to name a few. All of them were former volunteers who spent a great deal of their time looking after homeless cats. Are you ready, George? Yes, let’s go. Bruce, look I have sight in both eyes and the pain is starting to leave. George, look at me, I’m starting to gain weight and I’m starting to get younger. It’s time to go. . . .
Goodbye, goodbye and thank you all so much.
Purrs & kisses from your pals Bruce & George
Hi PBS,
I am writing in remembrance of the very special kitty that I adopted from PBS in August of 2000. Murray (then called King Forest) was a beautiful white and brown, 6 yr old cat with big gold eyes, a cute “moustache” and an outgoing personality. He was a featured cat on your web site where it was noted that he had been the “ambassador” to room 5 before he became depressed and stopped eating when his brother, King Tut was adopted. I called PBS when I saw his story and arranged over the phone to pick him up the following day. Within a couple of hours I received a call back from a volunteer, who told me King Forest was much sicker than they had realized. I insisted that I wanted to see him and went to Fallon. It was sad and a bit scary to see how thin and fragile looking he was, especially compared to the picture
of the big gorgeous fluffy cat I had seen on the web site.
He looked up at me through the cage with his huge gold eyes and knew he needed me. The vets at Fallon were doing their very best, but he just couldn’t keep any food or liquid down and was getting skinnier by the day, down to less than 6 lbs.
I brought King Forest (who I named Murray) to Bulger Animal Hospital in North Andover where they had a 24 hour “ICU” and were able to treat him with an IV and round the clock care. After a couple of days, the vets at Bulger had been able to start to treat the fatty liver disease but were not able to discover why he was becoming so dangerously anemic, he had stopped producing red blood cells completely and it looked pretty grim. I prepared to take Murray home with me after a blood transfusion with the understanding that it would most likely keep going for a few days at best.
With little reasonable hope that he would recover, I still wanted him to know he had a home and have some time watching the birds that gathered at the feeder on my deck. I finally brought the skinny cat home after a week at Bulger. As soon as I put him down, Murray hopped right out of his kitty bed where he had barely moved from for a week and immediately started checking the place out. He was home!
Long story short – he made a slow but steady recovery after that and has been my best buddy for the past 5 years. Murray always needed medicine for something or other and I spent many of his healthier days playing hide and seek while he playfully avoided his treatment. He always took it without complaint (once I found him;-)
He and my other cat, Josie, while never really bonding, finally learned to tolerate each other and I’d always wake up to find myself firmly sandwiched between them. Murray liked to be under the covers and would insistently pat my cheek until I’d wake up and let him in.
After years of battling thyroid disease, Murray succumbed to cancer this Monday evening at the age of 12. He was the most sweet and gentle cat I ever met and I loved him dearly.
Thanks so much for the 5+ years I had with him, we went through a lot together and I’d gladly do it all over again.
I am making a donation of $250 in Murray’s name via the web site today. I hope you’ll publish this tribute on your web site. I’ve also attached a picture of him from last summer when he was at the peak of his happiest and healthiest.
Maureen Leary