Slinko Dies

 Old boy Slinko is gone.

I took him to the vet yesterday afternoon.  He'd been failing for over a year.   I'd give him fluids when he'd let me.  He lost weight.  Three days ago he stopped eating and drinking on his own.  

I don't know how old he was, only an estimate.  I trapped him in a feral colony.  I'd been hoodwinked into catching the cats at an apartment complex and they couldn't go back.  Apartment owner was friend of then mayor who said she'd promised him I'd solve the cat problem there.

Gee thanks.  

It was a low income project full of late night loud party a-holes who wouldn't lift a finger.  The manager was evicting anyone who fed the strays but apparently not drinkers and drugsters.   Which says a lot about the state of everything.

I don't know how many I caught, over 20.  Slinko was one of them.   I thought he was feral for quite some time but within months, he came out as tame.  He never got a home and had chronic dental issues.  I also did not find homes for Molly and Gidget, black tux wild sisters from same place.   They have long since died.  Yesterday so did Slinko.

Slinko was a bully to other cats here, especially Peeman Sam when he was alive.   As he aged he settled down a bit.  He was 4 or 5 when neutered, the vet estimated.   That makes breaking bad habits hard for a big male.

He was 16 or 17 years old.

He's been my shadow for the past few months.  He didn't like being held so much as being petted or beside me.

So long old boy, loved you, will miss you.  Photo is of him when younger.  Don't we all want that of our last presentation to the world.