Dec 19, 2013

The Bridge is Busy: We Lost Another Parking Lot Kitty

Yesterday we said goodbye to Orange Guy, the oldest kitty in our parking lot.

Orange Guy is an amazing story of an outside kitty. Depending on when you ask his first parking lot mom, Marsha, he is anywhere from 17 to 20 years old. She's said 17 and 20, and Kelly and I have kind of estimated maybe 15. Either way, to live that long as an outside kitty in a parking lot -- he's a legend!

We called him OG for short. I am pretty sure I started that. OG like "Original Gangster"... and I guess also for Orange Guy.

Orange Guy hanging in his bushes.
We're sad that we had to help him to the Bridge, but we are celebrating how long and wonderful of a life he had!

OG had a best friend named Westin. They had a funny little relationship. If Westin was around, OG was glued to his side or rubbing his face or walking in front of him to rub on him and blocking him from walking forward any more. If he saw Westin coming across the parking lot, he's look over, perk up and head on over to meet him. Best friends for sure.


(Mouse over that video up there and click the top left to turn the volume on if you want to hear my squeaky kitty voice talking to them.)

In all the years that I've been feeding him, I've never touched him. OG was not only the oldest of the parking lot kitty crew, but also the most feral. He's stand about a foot away from you and hiss at you while you put his food down. He was all talk though. As soon as you turned around, he be there diving into the wet food. If Westin was coming though, he'd wait for him to get there before eating. That's good manners.


In the past year or so, we've noticed OG getting thinner. He was always a thin cat, but lately he's been just scrawny. We've been keeping a close eye on him, and he's still been his regular self, showing up for meals and bugging the junk out of Westin. He could have had a few things going on (Kelly, one of his other parking lot mommies, thought possibly hyperthyroid or anemia), but none of that was really anything we could have treated in the parking lot, so we let him be OG and enjoy his life. We knew if we took him into the vet for something, he probably wasn't coming back, and we wanted him to tell us when the time was right.

After months of just being OG and us keeping an extra careful eye on him, Kelly started to notice this week that our legend was getting weaker. He wasn't really eating very much the past couple of days and he was a little slower.

Thanksgiving turkey feast in 2010!
Yesterday, when she went to give them lunch (these kitties eat three times a day!), Orange Guy told her it was time.

She told me he was lying there not really being OG, not rubbing on Westin, not really wanting to walk around and he was not looking well at all. She called me and we talked and decided it was time to do the loving thing and help him to the Bridge.

It's always a hard decision to make because, like she said, you can't take it back. But they tell you when they're ready. I really believe they do.

So Orange Guy, our original gangster, gets to spend Christmas with Sweet Pea and all the rest of the parking lot kitties we've said goodbye to over the years.

It's hard to believe, but what used to be a clan of 14 cats is down to just two now -- Westin and Crybaby. That's how it's supposed to be with TNR and proper care, but it's still just crazy to think about. So many wonderful kitties we've gotten the good fortune to love.

Fly free, OG!


P.S. I'd really like to find Westin a home now. He'll be lonely without his buddy and he's a really friendly, totally home-able kitty. He loves to be petted. I'm not sure if he wants to be picked up, but I know he'd settle into a home in no time!

Can I come live with you?

P.S. We haven't gotten Pea back yet, but I think that after I pay for her and her paw prints, there will be a little bit left over in her Pea Fund that all of you so lovingly helped out with. I will use that extra money to pay for OG.

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16 comments:

  1. I imagine him and Sweet Pea and all your other parking lot kitties having a great time together and looking down on you and your friends who took care of them and thanking you for giving them a good life. I'll stop here because I might start crying again :)

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  2. orange guy looks a lot like the one i pull in from the bushes next door. sadly i see no kitty tracks in the snow, so i don`t know what happened to his mom or litter mates. MERRY CHRISTMAS Y`LL

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  3. Aw, that's very sad to see him go. :( I'm sorry--lots of loss for ya. It was good to know that he passed under your care and not alone somewhere.

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  4. Those kitties have been so lucky to have all of you parking lot "moms". Thank you for doing your part in your small corner of the world in an effort to make it a kinder place in which to live for both the furry kids and the humans who got to enjoy the kitties while they were around. It certainly looks like Westin would fit in to somebody's home easily. But then Crybaby would be all alone. What then? Thank you so much Dorian for caring like you do.

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  5. Crybaby and Westin actually live at two different office buildings in the office park, so they don't really hang out. Crybaby has been on his own since Pea left the lot, and he seems OK. Westin would make a wonderful inside kitty, though, so I want to try to do that for him. <3

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  6. Thank you so much all you parking lot moms! I wish I could take Westin, but I live in Colorado. What about crybaby? Will she be lonely if Westin is gone? Hope you find homes for each of them. Bless you all!

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  7. Fly free OG and have a Merry Christmas with all of your friends! Purring your pal Westin finds a home for the new year!

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  8. RIP, OG. Thank you for looking out for OG and his crew. They are all very lucky kitties.

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  9. don't know where westin is located but would love to give him home.

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  10. We're sorry to hear about OG. Thank you for taking such good care of him...right up til the end. RIP, OG.

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  11. Oh I hate that Dorian, Hugs and love from all of us.

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  12. what a bad week;so sorry!

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  13. Westin is in Fort Lauderdale, FL, Tracy. Where do you live?

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  14. Thank you for all you do and for this post, which has heart and soul!

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  15. So sorry for your losses. O.G. knew that Pea needed company. He is now with her, giving Pea guidance on how to celebrate Christmas.

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