GoodBye Snaggletooth

I'm off to Mexico for a week, and let me tell you this vacation is completely necessary. Besides coming home from Chicago (work trip) to the stress of having one day to finish work, get all the errands done, and a job loss in my house, a very small soul in my family passed away this week. And I wasn't there to say goodbye. After 13 faithful years of demented companionship to my favorite aunt and best friend, Snaggletooth was overcome by an illness he, in his usual stubborn way, hid from all of us. One day he was fine, the next his little paws just couldn't hold him up anymore. Elyse carried him everywhere (quite a feat for a 10-15lb cat who normally hates being carried), he spent a few days in the kitty hospital, and the decision was made to put him down.

I can't even describe the wonderful mentalness of this cat. I lived with him and El for two years before moving to the Twin Cities, and life was always interesting with him. The cat who could hear a tuna can being opened over a blasting stereo, no matter where he was in the house. A big Creamcicle-colored, bad tempered, vengeful demon cat who got pissed off every time you'd sneeze, said "hmmm?" upon entering every room, and would lie in wait if you really pissed him off to ambush your feet as you rounded a corner or passed the couch. A cat with a strange fetish for biting the back of your head just hard enough to let you know he's there, who'd steal your space on the couch and look at you with his proverbial eyebrow raised as if to say "yeah, I stole your spot. What exactly do you think you can do about it?" A cat who had strange hair fetishes (eating it out of a brush, rolling in it if you lay on the floor, etc etc). Who left sweaty pawprints on the table at the vet's office, and purred when you took his temperature (hey, he WAS born in San Francisco).

Say we're silly for crying over a cat if you like, but this boy had more personality than most people I know.

Goodbye Snaggy. I hope heaven includes plenty of open cans of tunafish. I'll miss you!