Sadly Taff died this week. He feel asleep Sunday and didn’t wake-up to eat on Monday. He was almost 17.
Natalie got Taff when he was 7 weeks old, we were in third year at Brock in 1994. She picked him because he didn’t come to her the way his sister did when she went to meet them. A few days after adopting him, he got really sick and it looked like he was not going to make it. It was touch and go for a few days so I was relieved to get home from school one evening to see Natalie smiling saying Taff was going to be fine. “Great! How do you know?” She said when the vet tried to give him a needle to help to hydrate him he went bizerk and started to get aggressive. He wasn’t on his death bed, he was only getting started and when he started fighting the vet, Natalie knew it. He recovered completely and became a rambunctious kitten.
After Natalie died in 1995 Taff came to live in Milton with my parents. Nat had intended to have him as an indoor cat while she was at school so my folks did their best with this. But Taff had other intentions and lobbied hard to get access to the back yard. Once granted, he made the most of the the warm day light hours outside sleeping. He’d come home to eat and when it got dark, or when he wanted some attention. An easy, peaceful life.
The most wonderful thing about Taff living in Milton was the relationship he and my mom formed. She was his favorite and they spend a lot of time hanging out together. When my mom would garden he’d watch and walk amongst the flowers she was planting. When my mom was sitting in the back yard in the evenings, he’d be there. If a raccoon or possum ever got too close, he’d rush to get between the animal and my mom, start hissing and getting all sideways. A protector against the mostly harmless. It was funny to watch him but he did it anytime something weird got too close to my mother.
My mom is a deeply loving person, rich in joy and happiness. Taff was receptive to these things and in being so, my mom became richer in them! He would wake with her most mornings (wake her) and they’d have breakfast together. My mom chattering away to him, he meowing back acknowledging that it was going to be a great day, adding that bacon would be the perfect breakfast closer. He’d come when she called him and he’s get up and meet her when she’d come home from work. Taff made my mom really happy and he was very welcoming to the love she gave. I think my mom created the best possible life that Taff could have had. For the more than 15 years that they shared, Taff was one of the most special things in my moms life and she gave selflessly, doing her absolute best to see him happy and content.
There is a deep appreciation for having seem my mom be so compassionate and loving towards Taff. He was her little buddy and they looked after each other like family!
Thanks for the memories Taff! Rest in peace!