One of the hardest things in life is losing a friend, my friend was like a son to me. The son we never had, his name was Cottonball. He comes from Siberia, since we adopted him, we didn’t know until recently that our son was a Siberian cat.
Here is our son, relaxing and looking proud as he always did.
Cottonball, our son, my best friend
The world of internet marketing can be a lonely one. Having a faithful pet to keep me company made working on the internet fun.
Saving his life many years ago
We met Cottonball at the Humane Society. They had him in a cage along side many other cats and dogs. He was slated to be put to sleep, which is what they do to animals that don’t get adopted.
He was not happy about being in a strange place, let alone in a small cage. When we tried to pet him, he growled and lunged at us through the bars of his prison. I suppose if I were in his fur, I would be pissed off too!
What can an innocent animal do to deserve the death penalty?
My wife and I looked at each other and said, no one is going to give him a home since he acts like a wild animal. We knew he just didn’t like being caged up, could be he knew his days were numbered and that made him mad too. We figured he must have come from an abusive home based on the way he was acting. That was nearly 12 years ago.
Our only concern in adopting him was how would he be with our grandchildren? We decided to take the chance and brought him home that day. While the first few days were a little touchy, he mostly hid and acted scared of his own shadow. It took a great deal of coaxing to get him to come out and eat.
It became clear that he was abused when he would freak out at the sound of paper being crinkled. Amazing that such a beautiful Siberian cat would ever be abused.
Here is our son sleeping peacefully:
Our son sleeping peacefully
We had roughly 12 good years with our son. Yes, I called him my son because he was a member of our family. Always there to greet you with his purr and innocent love.
We will miss our son
Cottonball came down with irreversible kidney disease and he may have suffered a stroke too. The vet said there was nothing they could do. Since he showed no sign of suffering, we brought him home. We kept him comfortable and he purred all the way to the end. We let him go out on his own terms, much like mom and grandma did, with dignity.
There is now a hole next to me where Cottonball would keep me company while working on our internet marketing business. I find myself reaching over to pet him and seeing shadows behind me when making coffee. In our hearts, he is still here and always will be. We miss you big guy, we’ll see you again when we get there.
John Stiles
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