Gentle Rat Guardian Mocca Laid to Rest

It is with great sadness, Mocca, my 16 and a half year old Siamese/Himalayan kitty had to be put to sleep today. This picture shows him in the pink of health.

We had blood tests run a few months ago and nothing showed up. He was getting thin but he was still very active.

The last week he had really slowed down. He couldn't jump up on the bed and his muscle tone seemed to dissipate overnight. He essentially parked himself on the pillow and didn't move. By Monday, February, 23rd, he wasn't even coming downstairs.

I adopted Mocca from a private party that had an ad up at the vet's office in Rainier, Oregon. She had 2 kittens and a mother cat that needed a home. I was looking for a cat to adopt and I called her. When I got to her house, she asked me what I wanted to do with the cat. I told her I lived in a trailer on my parents' property and he would be an indoor only cat. Instead of picking from the mother and 2 kittens, she brought Mocca over and said he would be better suited because he liked being the top cat. He hissed at me. He cried all the way to my house. I popped him in my trailer and went to the main house while he explored. When I went back to my trailer, he had made himself at home and crawled into my lap and purred.

We lived in the trailer for about a year. He slept under the covers, often with his head on my pillows. Or he'd sleep on my pillow and I'd have to rotate pillows through the night as he'd take it over more and more. On really cold nights, when I put a hot water bottle under my feet, he'd sleep there.

There were a few events that happened while we lived in the trailer. During the winter that year it snowed. Luckily the wood pile was near my trailer because a tree came crashing down and that wood pile prevented it from going through my trailer. Scared the crap out of Mocca and I. I do have a scar on my face where he jumped from my arms in a panic and clawed me.

The other was when I fostering 2 puppies. They were 2 weeks old when I got them (their mother had passed). Initially both puppies lived in a 10 gallon aquarium for about the first 2 weeks. I had to put a hot water bottle in with them. I got them on an 8 hour feeding schedule. I must have done something right, the puppies lived to be adopted by 2 families. But Mocca used to sit on top of the aquarium lid as if he was trying to convey his warmth them. (In all honesty I think he was taking advantage of the radiant heat from the hot water bottle in with the puppies.)

After about a year, Mocca and I made our way to Portland, Oregon so I could continue school up there. I had found a position working for an adult foster care home where Mocca and I could live and I'd work 4 days and get 3 days off. Those 3 days is when I'd go to school. It worked out well and we did this for about 2 years. During which time I got Majah (shown on the cable box), a kitty that would become Mocca's best buddy.

The day Mocca and Majah met, it was NOT love at first sight. My cats had to live in my room with me. It was a fair size room so it was ok. Mocca was fine with the new guy, Majah was not having any part of it. After about 3 weeks of this nonsense, they were sitting at my desk which was in front of the window, which was open. My roommate's dog jumped up on the wall outside of the window and started barking. Mocca and Majah were sitting on opposite sides of the desk basking in the sun. They pulled back and then ran together and huddled together on the bed. They've been stuck together ever since.

Well, after the stint at the foster care home, we moved back home and I went to work at the local hospital. I did that about 10 months, but due to inconsistency of hours, I secured a position with a company in downtown Portland, where I still work today. I had also secured a part time home care position where I could work every other weekend and it would take care of my rent. We did this for almost a year and then my now husband and I moved in together.

Now here is one for the books. Mocca was very possessive of me. When my now husband moved in with me before we were married, Mocca had to tell him who was boss. My husband was lying on the couch in our apartment and Mocca essentially backed up right by the couch right under where my husband's face was and he peed right in front of him onto the sofa. We were upset, but it was so in keeping with Mocca's possessiveness that we laughed too.

Over the years, Mocca put up with Millie, a kitty that was with us a short time but had to be put to sleep because she had an intestinal blockage. Then Plamya, who was 5 years old and had to be euthanized due to cancer. To the addition of Gadget, Deemka and Pajar. To the building of Vermin Village. He was the most easy going cat ever.

I call him the rat guardian because of the first rattie boy I had, Mr. Chuckles. Mocca had jumped up on the arm chair sometime during the night. I had fallen asleep with a very ill Mr. Chuckles in my lap. I woke up just about the time my husband was walking from the stairs and Mr. Chuckles had decided to shift to my shoulder. He was walking up my chest, Mocca woke up, looked at Mr. Chuckles, my husband was ready to pounce, I was groggily coming awake. Mocca tucked his front legs under himself more and layed his head on his chest (I always say kitties look like boats when they lay like this) and went back to sleep. My husband relaxed his stance. I put Mr. Chuckles in the carrier. (And no, I don't put my ratties at risk like this again, I only hold them when I know I'm not going to fall asleep in my chair.)

I once took a personality test for Mocca. His results? Pooh bear kitty. It really fit.

I brought him to the vet on Friday, February 27th, 2009. I didn't want him put to sleep without my husband there too, so our doctor made room for him to come in on Saturday. He gave Mocca some subcutaneous fluids to perk him up.

Mocca and I waited for my husband to get off of work in his work's parking lot. I reclined the car seat back and cuddled Mocca in his blanket. We napped for a bit and I cuddled him for over an hour. I didn't want to go home because I didn't want the other kitties to make demands on me, it was Mocca's time.

When we got home, I tucked Mocca up in bed and took care of other stuff that I needed to do.

The next day I cuddled with Mocca some more. Everything was ready for the final trip to the vet. I had a box ready for his body to be transported to the Oregon Humane Society for private cremation.

It went very quick. He got his sedative shot and went limp. The doctor shaved his foreleg and administered the final injection. He was gone before the doctor got the stethoscope on him, I felt him pass.

I wrapped him in his blanket and we placed him in the box. His remains will be ready for pick up next weekend.

Mocca, thank you for choosing to stay with us for 15 years. You will never be forgotten, our big blue-eyed snowshoe kitty.