Shoe Garrison

[billdolfski]

This is Shoe:  

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• billdolfski
• Aug 24, 2015

I've talked about him a little in the Black Cat topic.  We were tight like spandex.  Had him for about 5 years I suppose, I inherited him.  He was my buddy's wife's cat and they got divorced and she said she was coming back for him but never did so I ended up adopting him.  He lived in the garage below where I stayed and I started letting him come and go in and out of the apt as he pleased.  Sadly I wasn't with him when he passed away, I left him back home with my parents when I moved.  I didn't want to leave him or not have him but it was leave him there with a full sized barn and acres of land or bring him to the city with me where he would have just had a small, fenced in back yard so I left him there.  Then he had to go and die on me, that jerk.

I'm not really sure what to say about Shoe.  He was easily one of the most unique cats I've ever been around.  He was amazingly tolerant.  Like amazingly tolerance, like you wouldn't believe the stuff he'd let you do to him.  And it's not like he can't bite or run away, but he just took it and hoped you'd eventually, maybe just leave him alone.  He went through lots of drunken hazing before he moved in with me.  You could seriously do almost whatever you wanted to him as long as you weren't physically hurting him and he'd just take it.... which is very un catlike.  Sometimes I wondered if something was wrong with him and he wasn't all there but then he'd do things that would surprise you and even indicate pretty high intelligence for a cat.  He was odd.  He was as lazy as it got.  I mean, all cats sleep a lot but that's all he did.  He slept with me all night.  He'd get up in the morning and go out and go cat around.  Not really sure what he did.  Used the "restroom," watched birds.  I know he hunted because he was so kind to bring most of it back to me.  Thanks, Shoe.  He killed rabbits with no front or rear claws, which is pretty impressive.  And no, I didn't have him declawed.  He came that way.

He wasn't a super vocal cat, but he'd talk back and forth with you as long as you wanted to.  If you didn't encourage him to talk, he didn't say much unless he need something.  Namely food or wanted to go outside, due to his lack of opposable thumbs and not being able to operate doors.  Like I've said before, he was super laid back and calm and mostly liked to sleep... one funny thing about him sleeping was he always tried to sleep on black objects (which got him stepped on a lot) and he didn't "lie down" like a normal cat.  When he got to where he wanted to be he just kind of flopped over.  He did the same thing when he was trying to cuddle with someone he'd stand as absolutely close to you as possible and then just flop over on you and where he slid to is where he ended up.  Odd cat.  I'm sure I'll think of some more stories, not that I think anybody really cares that much about my dead cat but it actually has been nice "talking" about it.

 

[margd]

Shoe sounds like he was a wonderful cat. Your tribute really captured his personality. I had a laid back, mellow black cat too so can really appreciate how much you miss him. It was very good of you to rescue him. It sounds like after he came to you that he had a good life. He will always remain in your heart but the pain will diminish with time. I am so sorry you're going through this loss.

 

[billdolfski]

I'm just really thankful I got spend some decent time with him when I went back home to work on cleaning out the apt I was living in.  Naturally, I had no idea it would be the last time I'd ever see him and it was fairly serendipitous how it worked out.  I literally was just coming in to work on the apt, I had recently moved out of state.  I left Shoe with my parents when I moved because I thought he'd be happier there than in a crowded neighborhood, even if I did rescue that feral kitten and I know it drove him nuts... she was literally climbing all over him the entire time she was awake.  She wasn't Shoe's best friend, but Shoe was certainly her best friend.

Anyway, the day I came in was the day the kitten was spayed.  It was indeed bitter cold outside, they have a little house with a heating pad in the barn but my old man was worried that she might not make it through the night that cold because she had just been recently sedated.  So my dad wants it in the house, my mom doesn't and I didn't find it necessary but I got sick of hearing them argue so I just took both of the cats with me to the apt.  Which was amusing, because as soon as we walked in the door Shoe was in his old stomping grounds (he lived his entire life on that property up to his last months, first in the house, then the garage, then in the apt with me.

The kitten ceased to torment him because he took zero crap from here in the apt.  He wouldn't even let her in the bedroom with us.  I only kept her for a day until she recovered and took her back to the barn but I kept Shoe with me the entire time I was working on the apt so for several days all I did was work on the apt, drink beer and hang out with Shoe and I'm grateful to have had that time.  I kind of wish I had taken him with me now so I could have spent more time with him but hindsight is 20/20 and I certainly didn't expect him to die.

 

[margd]

Awww. I'm so glad you and Shoe got to hang out together during your last visit home. Those are the kinds of good memories that bring a little comfort when the pain is so great. It's funny he wouldn't take any guff once he was in the apartment with you!

I would probably wonder if I should have brought him with me as well but really I think you made the right decision. If he had some underlying health condition, the stress of moving would have been extra hard on him. As it was he got to live the life of Reilly.

Whenever I've lost a cat, I've found it really helps to write about them. People here totally understand what you're going through.

 

[billdolfski]

It does help to talk to sympathetic people about it.  Not too many people I'm close to are cat people, so they don't relate as well.  One of my good buddies had to put his cat down on Saturday and I was chatting with him and was like I know how you feel, it sucks.  I tried to get him connected with a Vet that did euthanasia as a house call, which I think is probably the most comfortable for the animal but they unfortunately couldn't make it out until Monday and I don't think he was wanting to make the cat wait any more, which was probably the right decision.

Shoe did have a lot of underlying health issues.  Always kind of did.  He always had problems with his eyes, and he snotted a lot.  Had a couple random cysts.  My buddy found him on the side of the road, I'm sure he wasn't from a stellar genetic line.  But he always acted fine and didn't think it was as serious as it apparently was.  Now that's the real thing I can dwell on in regards to regret, maybe if I had done something about it he might still be here.  Not much I can do about that now.  He was also dirty, which is odd for a cat.  He'd always come in and have clumps of dust on his head from hanging out in the garage and just bring it in with him.  Sometimes his fur would mat, we affectionately called them "shoelocks" and I'd have to shave it off of him.  Then he'd look funny.  He did clean himself though, seen him do it plenty.  Somebody told me that a lot of times cats won't clean themselves as much because they have an issue with their mouth, which makes sense, but I'm about 99% sure the only thing wrong with his mouth was feline halitosis that he oh so lovingly yawned in my face every morning.  I swear, I think he was just that lazy.

 

[margd]

Shoe really does sound like a loveable character. My mellow black cat Wesley was not so great at staying clean either - he was often dusty for some reason. I'm sorry about your friend's cat. I agree that putting a cat to sleep in home is the way to go whenever possible. I was able to do that for Wesley but you're right that it's better not to make a suffering cat wait.

Poor Shoe with his underlying health problems. At least he had a family watching out for him. How old was he when he passed? You're right not to dwell in regrets - I do too for every cat I've ever had so it's easier said than done. But you did your best and Shoe clearly felt loved. That means everything.

 

[billdolfski]

He was no spring chicken, but he should still be alive.  I don't think he could have been any older than 9 or 10.  Harder for me to figure out because I didn't have him at first and I wasn't hanging around with that friend as much when he first got married because I hated his wife and that's when they got him.

Shoe did know he had a buddy.  That was the best part when I came in town I went in the barn and called for him and I heard him literally peeling out on the dirt floor to get to me.  I had never seen him that excited or be that loud, or twitch his tail that much or waller on the floor.  I hadn't seen him in few months though.

 

[margd]

Awww. How sweet! Shoe really really loved you. How did he get his name, anyway?

 

[billdolfski]

My buddy is silly.  That's what he named him.  I know he was originally going to be Boyd Cattington but his wife vetoed the name and he got Shoe Garrison.

Shoe and I got close when his cat buddy died and I got stuck with him.  When my friend divorced as soon as she was gone he put a cat door on door to the garage, but some beds in there and food and they became garage cats.  But they had each other and it was climate controlled so a pretty good deal for them.  The other cat got on the neighbors pool when it was frozen, but not frozen enough.  I think it's hard on cats when they lose their cat buddy.  Anyway, I was thinking about moving in with the girl I was dating and she really wanted me to take him with us.  I always really like Shoe, ever since I had been around him but she was one who really got me stuck with him.  So I asked my friend if he minded if I took Shoe with me when I moved out and as soon as I asked he pointed at me and said, "That is your cat."  That day, he quit feeding him, quit buying him food etc and I had a Shoe cat.

So I end up not moving out but moving my gf in with me.  So as soon as she moved in she was letting the cat in the apt constantly.  I mean I let him in every once in a while, but he lived in the garage.  So she's letting him in every day and sneaking him in when I'm not paying attention so now he wants in the apt all the time.  So he starts coming up and pawing at the door.  He also knows she'll let him in and if I'm with someone else that he can probably run between their legs and get inside.  I eventually started giving up and just letting him come and go as he pleased.  And we always joked that Shoe was gay and he took a liking to me even over here and then we broke up and she moved out and did not take Shoe with her.

Oh, before I took Shoe my friend's wife (not the one I hated and who had Shoe declawed) got a white cat from the Shelter and named it Sock but as good of an idea as that seemed, it didn't work out.  My buddy said it was a really cool acting cat at the Shelter but as soon as he put in the garage it immediately got up in the ceiling and stayed there.  As well as urinating and defecating, which is definitely a problem.  If you came in the garage, that cat was up in the ceiling.  Finally found it but I couldn't get to it.  Anyway it had come out of the garage and was in the yard and my friend's wife blocked of the cat door so we could try and figure out what to do with it and it just took off and never came back.

 

[margd]

Shoe certainly had an interesting life! It sounds like he picked you to be his person. Cats often do that.

It's a shame about Socks. She was probably very scared after the shelter, poor thing.

Shoe was a lucky boy having you!

 

[billdolfski]

I think if Sock stayed, I probably wouldn't have gotten as close to him as I did.  I don't think Shoe had tons of human interaction before.  He was definitely a sociable cat but you know how two cats are when they live together, especially if nobody pays attention to anyway.

I think my friend is mildly allergic to cats anyway so I doubt he ever pet it unless he was drunk and messing with him.  I doubt his wife every paid any attention to it because she has a chihuahua she was obsessed with and carried around with her so I doubt she cared much about Shoe.  She like Shoe so much she always tried to call him Shu.  It's Shoe.  Like a real shoe.  You know why?  Cause it's funny.  If you had a sense of humor you'd have gotten that.  See how much I like the ex wife? lol Like I said, when they split my friend immediately put the cats in the garage.  Then his cat buddy died.  Then he was alone in the garage.  I know my friend who stayed in the apt before I did let him in sometimes and like him (everyone liked Shoe, he was hilarious) but he probably didn't really get tons of human attention until my ex started letting him on the regular.  Then by the time she moved out I was used to him coming and going whenever he wanted.  I wish he had a cat door though, I got sick of letting him in and out but not as sick of having a litter box in my apt.

That's why I wasn't trying to let him in all the time.  When I was a kid we had cats, but never because my parents really wanted them.  I'm sure my sister then I had one that was a kitten that my sister had.  Anyway, my mother didn't want these things in the house so they were always outside cats.  That's how I was used to cats.  Pet them on the way in and on the way out and if you want to see it, call for it.  I guess some cats won't come but I've never had a cat that didn't come when it was called.  One thing I do know, all cats aren't created equal though.  I didn't care much for Shoe's cat buddy.  I didn't dislike the cat, he was just boring and didn't have much personality.  I've always been scared of getting a kitten because I was afraid I'd get a lame one and be stuck with it.

Between the cats I had around the house as a kid, I only took on one kitten before I had Shoe.  It was another stray/feral that born in the barn but I was living somewhere I could have a cat and this kitten was hilarious.  It was absolutely insane. The first time I saw it in was in a wheelbarrow trying it's best to kill my parents 105 lb German Shepherd.  After watching him for a few hours I thought he might be too cool to pass up and took him.  I started letting him out of the house pretty early and some girl down the street stole her.  I saw her with it and I confronted her about it but she was a kid, she lied and I'm an adult... I guess I could have tried to find her house and demand that her parents relinquish my stolen kitten but we lived a pretty bad white trashy neighborhood and I figured I'd be in the yard fighting with this girl's father or something so I just got mad and let it go.  I didn't have it very long so I wasn't emotionally attached but it still ticked me off.

 

[margd]

I'm really glad Shoe was able to come from the garage! He obviously wanted to have human companionship.

When cats are able to roam about outside, they do sometimes choose a different human. That happened to my sister - her cat kept hanging out with the neighbor until finally my sister accepted the situation and made it official. Here's hoping your kitten is happy with her new family.

I always worry about cats who go outside, even though I let my own out before I moved to an apartment. Your mother sounds a bit like I was before I got my first cat - I figured they should live outside. But my first cat completely changed my attitude, .It's a hard life out there!

It's wonderful you took over Shoe Garrison (I love the name btw) from your buddy. Or did Shoe take over you?![emoji]128512[/emoji]

 

[billdolfski]

I guess we sort of picked each other.  I always really liked the cat from the first day I met him because of his super unique personality.  I always played with a lot when I was over visiting.  I've always liked cats, cool ones anyway but I've not really ever been the best candidate to have a real pet.  I keep spiders, but they don't require affection or to be played with and don't have have to fed often.  If I wanted to travel I could always get somebody to take care of them because it's so little work.  They are like lazy men's fish.  My living situation has never really been stable aside from when I lived in that apt by my friend, who had Shoe owned.  I've never really had much money so vet expenses would hammer me and it's not right to not care of your pet.  I didn't take Shoe to the vet because I didn't know he was dying and no he's dead... and I'll know that for the rest of my life.  I could have realistically gotten another 5+ years out of him it what was wrong with him was indeed treatable.  Too late now and best not to dwell on it, but I know.  For this reason I thought he'd always be better off with my friend.  My friend has a very stable job and he makes very good money.  He owns his house.  He can afford to take animals to the vet.  Heck, he could afford to board his dogs seriously like multiple weekends out of the month like every month because he likes to travel and do stuff, and that can't be cheap.  For two annoying mutts, but his wife likes him.  

Anyway, I thought it would be best for Shoe to stay with him and I could visit him and at that point, I was living in the apt so I was around him all the time.  I didn't need to "own" him.  Before I asked for him I had decided that his ex wife wouldn't get him back.  She texted him once and asked about "Shu" and that she was going to come get him (she said she was originally that she just needed him to keep the cats for a little while until she got moved and she'd come back for them.  She took forever and her cat died so I saw no reason to give Shoe to woman, whom I genuinely despise as a person.  I would have let him go to be with his buddy (I don't remember that cat's name, we called them the liger and the panther because of their colors but since he was dead I didn't want her to have him.  So I knew I wanted him but thought the arrangement was better as is and we just be friends instead of me "owning" him.

Then as I mentioned before I was moving in with my ex gf, but I thought I was going to move in with her.  I wasn't going to ask my friend to move her into the apt because that's somebody he hasn't known forever and another car in the driveway but my ex encouraged me to at least try and offer them double what I was paying and they were happy to do it so she just moved in with me.  But this was after I mentioned taking him, so I was already stuck with him. I originally didn't want the cat in a tiny apt with us because we'd have to have a little box but she swore to me that she would deal all the litter and promised she'd clean it every day and brush him and do all the responsible things that you need to do but I didn't want to do which is why I never owned a cat as an adult. But when I ran this by my friend that's when he said it was my cat and he immediately stopped buying food or feeding it (unless I was out of town) and that's how he officially became mine.  Then we broke up and she moved in with her mom who wouldn't let her have a cat so Shoe stayed with me.

 

[margd]

You really were Shoe's guardian angel! His life would have been much less happy without you - I'm glad your friend's ex didn't come back for him. You and Shoe belonged together.

I've never known anyone with pet spiders although I once had a pet praying mantis. She was a fine pet!

Even if you had been on the spot, you might not have been able to save Shoe. Cats are such stoics and are very good at hiding symptoms. My cat Milo was gone 11 days after he showed his first symptoms of oral cancer - it was horrible how fast he went downhill once it was clear he was sick. And I took him to the vet at least 4 times in those 11 days and put him through surgery to have a tumor removed. So you mustn't think too much about how you might have saved him.

It will take time before the hurt goes away but you have lots of great memories with Shoe. He sounds like he was a very special cat and it's wonderful he had you!

 

[billdolfski]

Oh, I assure you... she would have never gotten that cat.  I would have let him go if the Liger was alive so they wouldn't be separated, but he died.  My friend showed me the texts when she said she was gonna pick him up and he messaged her back and told that she better take it up with me about the cat and she got all mouthy like it was hers and said I couldn't take it but I had been feeding him longer than she had.  She left them for long time, long enough for the Liger to get himself killed.  I guess she could have came up to the house when I wasn't there and take him... he'd let anyone pick him up but is she did, you can guarantee I'd have been down at her house throwing bricks through her BMW that my friend bought her in divorce settlement that very night I figured out what happened.

Praying mantises do make fine "pets", are very interesting and are beneficial predators that should never be harmed.  There is actually another spider owner on the forum, I saw pics of tarantulas.  Spider are by my favorite "animal," technically arachnids but out of everything... spiders are my favorite.  But this is a an interest of knowledge and behavior.  There is no emotional connection other than the money and time and how interesting you thought it was because that spider is completely incapable of having any kind of feelings for you.  This is why dogs and cats are popular, because you can form very real bonds with them.  Spiders, not so much.  

Yeah, there is no way I could know... nothing I can do now and no reason to dwell on it.  I've also read, on here, how good cats are at hiding afflictions.  I just can't help but realize that more than likely, some better medical attention that he was getting couldn't have hurt.  I told you about the issues he had but he always seemed happy.  Does the picture in this thread look like unhappy, dying cat to you?  He sure didn't to me but I was wrong.  I don't think he was unhappy though, just sick.  I also don't trust vets.  I know there are compassionate ones because I've met them but I grew up around a vet who declawed his own cats and let them go outside (I let Shoe outside, but I'm not the dunderhead who declawed him and I'd also get up in the middle of the night and help him fight off male cats when they came around).  I also think that some, not all, specifically predate on emotional people who are animal lovers.  I could easily see some scumbag overcharging somebody like that and charging some no nonsense person who is just there because their spouse likes it.

Actually when Shoe did I was talking to a girl and I just mentioned it in passing because I just found out and wasn't ready for it and she was actually a cat person.  She had just lost her cat.  This is a woman my age, working two jobs to pay her car off and she drops 4k in vet bills on this cat and he still didn't make it.  Nobody needs that and she was so devastated that she still won't get another cat because she can't go through that again.  I said I'd never get another pet but I rescued that feral kitten because I'm soft, but I didn't get stuck with it.  My parents have her and they like her and she likes the barn so all is well.

 

[ginny]

I"m so sorry about your dear little Shoe!  His name reminds me of a few of my kitties who seem to have an obsession with shoes.  Honey curls up beside my tennis shoes and naps there.  Silly girl!  It's so cute.  Anyway when you started talking about his name I thought of how some kitties do have a thing for shoes and it made me smile.  

 

[billdolfski]

We had a Siamese named Soxie when I was a kid and she was dubbed so because of her penchant of digging socks out of the laundry pile and going ham with them.

 

[ravenseye]

Yup. We care. A lot.

Thank you. When I cross over, I'll be sure to check in with him. Many thanks!

 

[di and bob]

I loved your candid way of describing your relationship with Shoe, I hope you know how lucky you are to have known that wonderful cat. He sounds like a wonderful friend and family member, and will definitely be missed from your life. You have your precious memories to comfort you, he knew you loved him, you didn't have to be there for him to know this. Please accept my sincere condolences on your loss, I feel your pain as I have been through the grief process more times then I want to remember. Our little ones would never want us to live in sorrow, but to open our hearts once more and learn to live and love again. Take care....... RIP sweet Shoe, you are known to many now, and will never be forgotten!

 

[jcat]

I'm very sorry for your loss of Shoe, who must have been a real character. It sounds like fate wanted you to be together. It's a shame he passed away while you were apart, but at least you had that last visit together. RIP, Shoe.