 kitten Sable in window |  Sable and Striper napping |  Sable sitting |
We've had the fortune of having wonderful cats as pets over the years - Striper is currently quite happy to be hanging around with Kay and Mike. Over the last several years, Sable, Snoop and Spike have all passed on - this page is dedicated to them.
Sable was the first cat Kay and I adopted. We picked him up from the Hennepin County Humane Society in September of 1986, as a fluffy, energetic little ball of 8 week old furry cuteness. Sable spent 17 years as our close, beloved companion, enduring several cross-country moves, the adoption of other cats that took away some of our attention and love, and remained entertaining, loyal and loving the entire time. After a brief battle with cancer, he was laid to rest on 9 December 2003 under a tree overlooking Lake Sammamish. He is and will continue to be greatly missed by both Kay and I, and Striper.
In late November of 2003, we noticed that Sable had begun slowing down, essentially spending all of his time laying around on his side. A blood test showed that Sable had an elevated white blood count. Normal for cats is 3,000 to 13,000. At 16,000, there is a very good chance that the animal has cancer. Sable's count was 330,000. This came as quite the surprise since his last complete blood panel in May of 2003 was completely normal. Further testing showed that Sable had a very aggressive cancer (Acute lymphoblastic leukemia) that is rare for a cat of his age, with an expected life span of perhaps 3 weeks. Although Sable was still responsive to hearing his name and purred when petted, and particularly liked the tuna we added to his water to entice him to drink more, when he stopped eating we knew his time was over. This was the hardest decision we've ever had to make. Sable was peacefully put to sleep by our vet, and we buried him that night in my Aunt Lucille's backyard.
Both the internist (Dr. Alan Schreiner) and our vet clinic were very helpful and compassionate throughout this process. Our regular veterinarian, Becky at the Redmond Vet Clinic, was an extraordinary help and guide during the entire process. Both Kay and I truly appreciate the above and beyond effort she made for us and Sable.
Sable lies about ten feet from a burbling stream, under a plum tree, with a wonderful view of Lake Sammamish. We are very grateful to my Aunt Lucille for allowing us to bury Sable there, on the same hillside as her cats and dog that have passed on over the years.
Sable was by far, the most intelligent, patient and fastest of our cats. Even at the age of 17, he could easily outrun Spike, Snoop and Striper. It was actually funny to watch this black flash of fur going whizzing by, followed slowly by the lumbering Spike, a kind of game of tag played at two very different speeds. When young, Sable loved to play fetch with little foam balls, chasing them down and returning with them over and over. As he got older he would still chase toys, but the returning part of the game kind of disappeared. Sable also liked to help make beds, jumping and skittering across the bed while "killing" a particularly dangerous fold in a sheet. Below are some pictures of him during various times, some with our other cats.
Snoop had a short but happy life with us - succumbing to renal failure after a 9 year battle with renal disease. Although the runt of his litter, Snoop was of the opinion that he should be the alpha, which made for interesting encounters with Spike, who is decidedly larger, and not at all inclined to step down from that position.
Although reasonably happy and healthy for most of his life, Snoop began showing signs of renal failure in May of 2006. When it was clear that his quality of life was decreasing and would not return, we made the very difficult decision to let him move on to his next stage of life on 27 May 2006. He is buried next to Sable under a tree overlooking Lake Sammamish.
Spike passed on at the ripe old age of 17 on 7 February, 2007. He was a very couragous and loving kitty (well, when he wasn't being an obstinate butthead). He survived a number of physical challenges - 4 pancreatitus attacks, 4 plus years of diabetes, hyperthyroidism, and liver disease. In early January he began having additional physical problems, and we suspect that he was suffering from some form of cancer. Basically, the diagnostics and treatments that would have been necessary would have been invasive and painful, and we suspect he knew this. He stopped eating and drinking shortly before 7 Feb, but not before cajoling several nice salmon meals from us. He was a very loving and attentive cat, despite being the alpha of the herd, with a definite attitude at times. In leaving us, he's now left Striper with the difficult task of being the sole companion to Kay and Mike, hopefully for years to come.
As with our other kitties, the Redmond Veterinary Clinic was a great help, most notably the doctors that worked closely with Spike - Becky and Melissa. They both helped Spike make it through a number of health issues, and they also helped make a very difficult decision go as easily as was possible given the circumstances. Spike was laid to rest under the same tree overlooking Lake Sammamish, right next to his buddies Sable and Snoop.
 Festive Spike |  Grumpy Spike |  Spike the slug |
 Spike at a Baker Lake Campground |  Spike on the way home from Baker Lake |  Spike the slug II |
Spike's diabetes required twice a day insulin shots. To accomodate this, Kay and Mike took him camping a few times, but he was not terribly amused. The story of Spike the Camping Cat will grace these pages eventually.
