Authentically Faithful: #Blackberrythecat

With this post, I retire the hashtag #Blackberrythecat

In the beginning of December, both Blackberry and Socks came down with colds. They both spent a day or so sneezing and then a couple days of laying around.

I wasn't concerned, most people that get a cold want to lay around the house for a day or two. Seeing as they are both boys, I gave them grace as I thought ... man-cold.

It was just this week, Blackberry started with the cold again. He went downhill so quickly.

Our precious Blackberry died on Christmas Day, just prior to dinner at 6 pm. I have to say, I was really shocked, in my head and heart I thought he would rebound.

Blackberry entered our lives in really weird circumstances. It was December 2006. Melissa and I headed to Penticton on a Saturday to go Christmas shopping for Kent and Max at the only Sirius Science Store in the Valley.

We arrived and entered the store. There was a big cardboard box at the counter with one lonely kitten in it. He was all black with the most beautiful blue eyes. We got the story of the kittens from the owner, he said that a homeless man asked him to help him with the kittens, to give them away for free. At the end of the day, the last little kitten would be surrendered to the SPCA.

Now, I realize, I could've been played by the owner, but we couldn't resist the little one. I tried calling Kent, but he didn't answer. So, we took him home.

On the way home, he was all over Melissa, in and out of her coat sleeves, he purred and meowed the whole 40 minutes home.

When we got home, he became fast friends with our only other pet, Socks. They slept together, ate together and we very quickly fell in love with our new gorgeous kitten.

Blackberry, it turns out was a Bombay Cat. He was highly intelligent, although acted like he was dumb. For a cat he was really very clumsy. A few stories of Blackberry:

I remember Melissa naming blackberry because his coat was black on black and the pattern in his fur was almost like a blackberry. Kent, who loves BlackBerry, thinks it's because of the company.

When we brought Blackberry home, his favourite thing was to attach chair legs. We aren't quite sure what he thought they were, or if he thought they were moving, but he would growl and spit and claw at the legs.

Since the beginning, Blackberry has been a "kneader". He would lay on Melissa's bed with her housecoat and knead and lick her housecoat until it was drenched.

This behaviour continued until this week. I have looked up the reason for kneading, I've often thought it was due to leaving the mother too early, but it's a sign of contentment. If there was a word to describe Blackberry, it is just that, he was contented.

One day, he came into the house limping. We were concerned, so we took him to the vet. The vet stated, that he couldn't find *anything* wrong with him. He did say, that Bombay's can "fake" symptoms for attention. Sure enough, after snuggling with him on the couch that night, he was fixed.

After a number of weeks, Blackberry comes into the house, limping again. Same leg as last time....We thought, we're not falling for that again, I'm not paying for a vet to tell us he's ok. This time, after snuggling with him it didn't fix him. It was about a week later, Kent looked at his foot, sure enough, he was missing a toe. Oops.

He used to sleep with Melissa every night that he could. She would find him scratching at her second storey window often, she'd get up and let him in. He'd walk across her desk and fall off onto the floor. More often than not in a faceplant. If the window was open, he'd do all the same, including fall on the floor on his face.

In May of 2007 we welcomed Pippin into our house. Pippin and Blackberry ended up becoming fast friends. They would walk through the house like Mutt and Jeff. Often, they could be found sleeping together, snuggled all up. Blackberry would reach out and pull Pippin into his embrace. It was adorable to watch. Pippin didn't appreciate the kneading that Blackberry was prone to do, in fact, he would let out a little, low grown each time the nails would contact his skin.

When we moved to Victoria, Socks ran away the day we moved. Although we looked for him for 10 days, we had come to the conclusion that he was probably eaten by coyotes. Blackberry made home here and loved the backyard, but really missed Socks.

About 3 months after we moved here, we got a call that Socks had returned to our neighbourhood. When they were reunited, Socks loved Pippin, (he had never before), and hated Blackberry, (he had never before).

Life here continued like normal for 6 years, Blackberry would greet us in the morning, being very talkative. He loved a simple life, a dripping tap, his favourite dog, his favourite people, cat treats, a sudden nap, licking plastic and curling up on my knee, (for that sudden nap).

This year, Blackberry was my constant companion. About a week after I came home from the hospital, he would circle my lap and settle for a long cuddle or nap. It was very symbiotic, often I was cold. My Dog, Pippin, didn't like the smell of me for weeks, when he did sit with me -- it was on the edge of my knee. Blackberry just didn't care. He was a great nurse.

Tonight, we buried him. Max made a beautiful cross to mark his grave and dug the hole. We laid him to rest and I was complimenting Max on the cross when Kent said, "What if he was Jewish?"

Good Point.

He was well loved, he will be dearly missed and will not be replaced.