Note: I edited the picture incorrectly. Blame it on 30+hours without sleep. It should be 1992-2008.
Abo, my eldest son, came to be born in the living room of a friend of mine in high school. Due to his rambunctious nature, we named him after the monkey in the movie Aladdin. His littermate, Rajah, an orange and white striped tabby, was named after the tiger.
Abo earned many nicknames through out his life. Most of us lovingly called him "Boo", but "Booers", "Old Man Boo" and even "Boodini" (due to his escape artist abilities) were often used as terms of endearment.
Abo was born in December of 1992 and became a permanent fixture of my family on Valentines Day 1993.. I held him and fell in love with him before his eyes were open. I also fell in love with Rajah at that time and we lost Rajah a few years ago. I helped wean both of them from their mother. In his early years, Abo was a playful sort and always wanted attention. Attention we felt thankful to give him. Attention that I wish I could give him now.
When Rajah broke his leg and had to spend some time confined in a box, Abo seemed to take twisted pleasure in trying to get his younger brother to play. Rajah played back as best he could and eventually fully recovered from the injury. For over a decade those two were inseparable until Rajah succumbed to colon cancer.
As Abo aged, he mellowed and earned yet another nickname, "Stoner Cat", due to his laid back and "anything is fine as long as there's food" attitude. He also developed a serious desire to lick earlobes and hug necks. He could purr me awake and loved to snuggle at night.
In his twilight years, Abo became very ill and fought diabetes for several years. He became wobbly on his legs and soldiered through several seizures and vet visits while we tried to stabilize his blood sugar. At one point, we stabilized it and I looked forward to many more years with my baby. He did real well with his insulin shots. He came when he was called and even learned the sounds of his shots being prepared and came into the kitchen like a wonderful patient.
Although age was not kind to Abo, Abo was kind to everyone. When we introduced other cats into the household and even a dog, Abo was always willing to show friendship toward the new family members.
Today, we had to make a humane choice. We had to weigh Abo's declining quality of life with our desires to continue to love him. It was not an easy choice, but I know he's now in a place where the tuna never stops coming and insulin needles are no where to be found.
He died peacefully tonight with his head in the palm of my hand while I whispered that I loved him the best that I could. I wish that we all could experience such a wonderful passing.
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