Farewell, my faithful friend...

It is with great sadness that we had to put Valentino to sleep a couple days ago- a remarkably terrible coincidence, considering we lost Vincenzo only a couple months ago.

Valentino lost about five pounds since Vincenzo died, and we thought that it was because of some psychological "thing," maybe he badly missed Vincenzo, or he wasn't the alpha cat, so he didn't have "permission" to eat or something. We didn't really realize that Valentino had lost so much weight until one day, Denise began to notice that Valentino was looking rather bony, so I weighed him. That much weight was really more than just an emotional problem for a kitty, especially since we tried many, many kinds of cat food to see what he would like to eat, instead of the stuff we had been feeding him for so long. We found a couple of foods that he seemed to love, but after a bite or two, he would simply walk away, which is abnormal behavior for a cat.

Turns out that for the past few months, Valentino had been suffering from some kind of liver disorder, like liver cancer or some other kind of liver disease. The vet said we could aggressively treat his condition, but without guarantee of a relapse, especially considering his age: eleven. Basically, Valentino had been almost literally starving for months now, and we felt it was simply best to end his suffering. We feel very bad that we didn't catch this sooner and that he had to suffer as much as he did, but the vet did say that very soon and he would have started having seizures and other serious neurological problems. We are very glad that we will never have to remember Valentino in such a degraded position and that the last moments with him were relatively normal, him getting petted and held and loving every second of it.

I simply remember Valentino as an attention hog. He loved being petted and wherever we were, he was right there, snuggling up to us, purring his little heart out. Yeah, we called him psycho-kitty sometimes because he was so scared of everything, but that mellowed with age and while he never got completely over his skittishness, he became a very sociable cat.

I always loved how he jumped in my lap when I was on the computer, or he jumped in the bed with us and literally leaned against my side or chest, just to get petted.

He was always a finicky cat, but he loved a certain kind of cat treat and would come running when he saw the bag in our hands. I'll miss how he did that.

Valentino, I'll miss you, my friend. I know you are in better place, with no loud noises or sudden movements. I'm sure I'll see you again one day. I can't wait to pet you again.

Domo Arigato Mr. Roboto

Valentino, our striped cat, hasn't taken the loss of Vincenzo very well. He's been acting up, not eating, waking us up in the middle of the night and just being a general nuisance. So, the vet said that we should get another cat.

And we did.

We did our good deed for the week and went down to our local shelter and saved a kitty.

Denise wanted an orange tabby, and they had a few, but when she saw this kitty, she knew she had to have him.

He's a seal-point domestic shorthair. His brothers and sisters were all pretty much normal, average looking kittens, but he stood out, which is why I think Denise liked him so much.

So, since she picked him, I got to pick his name.

Friends, Romans, Countrymen, I introduce you to Mr. Roboto! We call him Robo for short. As of right now, he's about 9-10 weeks old and he is as kittenish as can be. He's into everything, plays all the time and is one of the cutest things ever.

Of course, Valentino, pictured left, didn't like him very much at all at first. Lots of hissing, swatting and running away. But now it seems they are getting along a little better. Robo especially loves Valentino's tail and the more he bites it, the more Valentino swishes it around, which makes Robo even more playful.

Most of the time, Valentino just ignores Robo, even when he's getting bit all over. Occasionally, he'll fight back by giving him a swat and sometimes a bite, but Robo just keeps coming.

It's very cute.

Something Valentino has been doing is very cute. Robo will just get on his last nerve and he'll put his paw out against Robo's chest and keep him at bay, while Robo swings away. Of course, Valentino is a 15-pound cat and he's big, so it's like an adult putting their hand on a kid's forehead and allowing the kid to swing away, hitting nothing but air. It's very funny to see, but we haven't been able to get a video or picture of it.

Robo eats like a cow. He's only been in the house for about a week now, but he eats almost a full bowl of cat food a day. We think that Valentino has been sneaking Kitten Chow on the sly, but I've not seen it and Denise has only caught him once. But Robo's got a little fat belly and he's getting big now. He's healthy and happy. I'm very glad we got him, except for the fact that cats are nocturnal and they've decided that the best time to play is in the middle of the night when the humans are sleeping.

Valentino has been doing better, too. He's not as mopey and he's been eating more, though we've kind of had to read his mind when he's hungry and put his adult indoor cat food down and then take it up when he's done, because Robo seems to like Valentino's food a bit more than his own. Small price to pay, though.

And here is a video of our boys playing. Usually, they go longer than this, but this is a fair representation of what usually happens.