Thursday Thirteen # 12

Today is the 1 year anniversary of our big brother Bingo, going to the rainbow bridge. We never got to meet him but mommy and daddy loved him very much and he sounds like a wonderful kitty. In honor of this amazing kitty's memory, mommy is taking over to post 13 things about her beloved Bingo.

1. Bingo was 17-18 years old. He lived a long and happy life filled with many friends and lots of adventures.

2. Bingo was originally my brother, Richie's, kitty. My friend, Mike, got Bingo for my little brother when he was very little. When asked what he wanted to name his new kitty, he thought pensively for a moment and then brightened up and looked at my mom and I and said, "mmm - how about Bingo?"

3. Bingo has lived in many places. After I took Bingo, he moved with me wherever I moved (which was a lot of different places) so he got to meet many new friends and other kitties and even woofies!

4. Bingo was a bit of a bully with other animals. As mentioned in #3, he lived in places with lots of other animals and he didn't always like sharing the stage. In particular, he really bullied my other little kitty, Clarabelle ruthlessly. Woofies never really intimidated Bingo. He was a bit of a bad ass with others. When he finally got to move into his own place when I met Jim, Bingo was in heaven. He was finally the only animal and he had both of our undivided and copious attention. The last six years of his life allowed him to be the center of attention all the time. I am very grateful for that.

5. There was a rough patch where Bingo had to live in a basement for six months. It was extremely hard on him and me. He loved attention so much but he didn't get as much as he needed in the basement. While we would go down and visit him, it broke my heart that he had to endure that. Hopefully, he forgave me...

6. Bingo had many nicknames. Later in life, these were the ones that really stuck: Boons, Boonie, Boonsarellasoon, Misser.

7. Jim was allergic to cats when we met and when we moved in together. This was very nervewracking as we were not sure how it would work out and I was not going to give Bingo up so there was a heck of a lot riding on it. After some initial months of allergic reaction and taking allergy medicines, Jim eventually got immune to it. We used allergy wipes to wipe Bingo down and this seemed to help. It's amazing to me that this actually worked out. It could have gone very, very wrong had it not.

8. Bingo had to get declawed at a very old age (around 11-12 years old). In our apartment, the landlord would not allow us to have a cat if it wasn't declawed. This was an agonizing decision and I was crying even at the vet hospital when we took him in to have it done. But, he recovered extremely quickly and it was quite nice actually to have him put his paw on your face or your arm now that he wouldn't rip skin. Still, my verdict is out on declawing. Chen and Ollie still have theirs and probably will keep them if we can avoid having the procedure done.

9. Bingo was Romeo incarnate. No really. I am not kidding you. Bingo was the biggest lover kitty ever. He would look straight into your eyes and then put a paw on your shoulder and then lean in with his hot kitty breath and LICK YOUR EAR!! It was a very intimate and adorable behavior of his that I've never seen from any other kitty. One time early on when he first did this to me, I was convinced that he was not a kitty but Romeo incarnate. He did this to men and women and if you were lucky enough to get this ear treatment, you never forgot it.

10. Though he was an indoor cat, Bingo did like to run outside. At one point in our lives, he was an outdoor cat for a short time so he got a taste for roaming the wilds. Bingo used to be found up on roofs just hanging out watching the world. When he was back inside as an indoor cat, I think he liked to try and bolt because he had a taste for outdoor freedom. Occasionally, he gave us a really good scare but we thankfully were always able to get him inside again.

11. Bingo loved people. He adored company and new friends in the house. More love and attention for Bingo! Bingo had many very good friends including Gabby, Mike, Bob, Leila and Tom, Christine, Christa, all of his grandparents and many other wonderful people who loved him.

12. Bingo broke his tooth a year or two before he died. We saw him chewing away on something and it just didn't look right and when we looked in his mouth, half his tooth was missing and he was bloody inside. We never knew he was in pain or how he broke his tooth. But, he was never well again after we took him in to get it fixed. After the tooth removal surgery, he was sick within a year. At first we thought it was hyper-thyroid and we were treating him for that. Then we thought he also had triaditis (irritable bowel syndrome, swollen gall bladder, and pancreatitis). In the end, it was lymphoma and leukemia. We still don't understand how he could have gotten leukemia since he lived with other cats and never got it and didn't go outside for the last seven - eight years of his life. I know this sounds awful, but I think he got it at the cat vet we took him too for his tooth. The lymphoma can result due to compromised immune system from the leukemia. I will always regret this and wonder if we might not have had a few more good years with him before he had to go.

13. We got to spend the last night of his life with Bingo. I've never seen him so sick, so unfunctional. It was one of the hardest nights of my life but I am very grateful that we got to spend that time with him to repeatedly tell him how much we loved him and how we would never ever forget him. In the morning, our friend Mike (who is a vet tech) came over and was able to put him to eternal sleep in our arms.

We miss you so much, Bingo!! We will see you again someday and we know that you are happy and pain-free on the bridge with all Those Who Came Before.

We love you very very much!
Love, Mommy & Daddy