It has been nearly a week since we said goodbye to Strauss. Strauss adopted us 6 years ago when he was 11 years old. We said goodbye to him at 17 years old. He was a neighborhood tramp who we ran into on one of our evening walks. The next day, I saw him on my run and he followed me home. Over the next few days, Strauss would be waiting on our front porch for us to come home. After a few weeks of this, we took him to the vet to see if he was chipped. We got in touch with his owners who didn’t seem to mind he was visiting us and they let us ultimately keep him.
Strauss was the most loving animal I’ve ever met. He greeted me at the door every day when I’d come home from work. All he ever wanted was to be by my side. He’d follow me around the house and sit on my lap as soon as I sat down. If it was a warm day, he’d put one paw in contact with me. he just wanted to be with people. If we had friends over, Strauss wanted to be in the middle of the commotion and say hi to everyone. He loved his belly rubbed and his toes played with. He couldn’t have been a more laid-back cat. We always joked he was more dog than cat.
We loved him so much and he loved us. I’ll never forget him and I miss him terribly. I wish we’d had more time together.