** In partering with the new line, GNC Pets, I am sharing my story of my best friend, Maxwell, and what he has meant to my life. GNC Pets is a new, premium line of vitamins and supplements for dogs and cats. In partnership with PetSmart, the line was created by GNC, the leading specialty retailer in nutritional products and PetSmart is the exclusive pet retail partner. There is a wide variety of products, each addressing unique needs that pets have such as their life stage, activity level and environmental conditions. For other stories similar to mine, go to www.facebook.com/petsmart.
I was torn to pieces the day I had to put my trusty old Tabby Theodore to sleep in 2010. I remember it like it was yesterday; Monday February 8th. He had cancer in his bile duct and the vet could only remove a certain length of the duct without harming him. He took as much as he could but the cancer spread. Theodore was doomed; he died less than two weeks from the first day I found out. But I’ve always been a believer in re-incarnation… and that’s important in this story.
I didn’t move from the chair I shared with Theodore for three days. I couldn’t go and pick up his ashes. I didn’t eat. I didn’t sleep. I was beside myself with grief – it was like I was watching this happen to someone else. Theodore had been with me since college, for 11 years. He was with me through the most trying times, through sickness, through break-ups, through deaths, through faltered friendships.
When I lost Theodore I knew I wouldn’t get over it. I stared at his pictures lying awake at night praying for some sense of reason to overcome my grief. Praying for some sense to be made where none could be found. To make matters worse, we lost our 10-yr-old Golden Retriever four days after Theodore – to cancer.
Little did I know that the same week that Theodore died, a helpless, teeny, large-eared, big-eyed, orange, devil-cat was brought into the world – albeit a different part of the city. But nonetheless, this cat had panache. He had personality. And he was born right around February 10th, 2010.
He found my Mom in the slummiest part of downtown Cleveland – a grimy, dirty, dank, disgusting downtown Cleveland parking garage. But he had spunk. He played with cigarette butts and bottle caps. He palled around with a small black cat. He ate the food my Mom had brought for him. And one day, she asked my Dad if she could bring him home for me to cheer me up.
The day she showed up in the garage with the cat carrier, “Max,” as he was then called, hopped right in and laid down, purring away and wondering where he was off to.
She came home that day and called me outside. It was raining out and I wondered what she was doing. When I walked outside my heart jumped. Out popped this little orange wonder cat whose ears were so big I was afraid the gusty wind was going to take him away and we’d never see him again.
Max LOVES Boxes!
Max walked right up to me and started purring and rubbing and scratching his face on my feet.
This was all too familiar. I started to cry.
Theodore used to do that.
It was his trademark.
We brought Maxwell inside (new name “Maxwell Maximus) and he walked around like he owned the place. And he started to show behavior that was downright uncanny – uncanny because Theodore used to do the same things. He immediately went to the food cabinet and opened it with his front paw. He immediately came on to my lap and started eating Goldfish crackers – another Theodore favorite. He immediately cuddled up with me and lay down. Now this was about a six-month old kitten – a kitten that should be spending his time chasing dust bunnies, spying on chipmunks outside, taking naps in the windowsill, and tearing to pieces his catnip toys. But he preferred to loll away the hours by my side.
Maxy Sleeps Sitting Up Sometimes...
Maxwell one night took to sleeping with me, which was tricky territory because my other cat Sasha has always owned my bed. Max did not care one bit. And would you believe this…? Max curled up in the same exact spot where Theodore laid every single night, right in the crook of my knees. And he didn’t move the entire night.
Soon after Max started showing other Theodore-like behavior. I’m a smoker and when I go out to smoke through the garage, Theodore would wait for me on the counter in the laundry room so he could see me while I was outside. Soon Max starting doing this. He would meow at me when I came in as if to say, “are you done now?”
Max started begging from me at the dinner table like Theodore used too, too. Never from my Mom or Dad, only from me.
And the icing on the cake… the way I hold Max. Theodore used to let me hold him so his belly was to my ear because I loved his motor-purr. Max, a wiley-6-month-old cat soon enough let me hold him the same way as Theodore so I could hear and be soothed by his motor.
Max also started following me around the house into weird places. When I type at the computer during the day, I have to pull up a chair for him to sit next to me so he can be touching me and resting his paws on me while I work.
And Max, like Theodore, seems to have a sixth sense. He knows when something is wrong with me. I suffer from a mental health disorder and Max just knows when it’s a bad day. And when that happens, he entertains me with his antics and he allows me to snuggle him until I’ve had my fill.
I know people think I sound crazy, but I KNOW THAT the week that Theodore passed away, he passed himself into the little body of another kitty to be brought to me. He was reincarnated; born into Max’s little soul. Theodore was trying to tell me that it will be okay. I don’t have to miss him anymore. He was trying to quell my dying spirit; he was letting me know that he would NEVER leave me.
And by the way, every now and then when I can’t sleep, I feel Theodore walking up and down the comforter cover around my body. And Max just looks up at him like he sees him, and tells him that it’s okay. He’s here now.
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