Cat Thursday | Goodbye Rockykins (2003 – 2016)

Welcome to the weekly meme that celebrates the wonders and sometime hilarity of cats! Join us by posting a favorite LOL cat pic you may have come across, famous cat art or even share with us pics of your own beloved cat(s). It’s all for the love of cats!

This week, I bring back this series on a sad note, first though, something trivial and completely arbitrary: This marks the 2500th published post on this blog, a totally meaningless milestone given the sad news that I must relate with this meme:

Rockykins, AKA Rocky, Mister Fluffy, Fluffy-Man, the Fluff-Meister, Rocket J. Cat, among other names, has gone beyond the mortal coil into the ultimate mystery this last Tuesday morning, the likely cause being heart failure from a hereditary cardiovascular condition, in cats found only among his breed, Maine Coons, at a rate of 34% of the breed worldwide.

His end was sudden and apparently painless, as he was still warm when we found him, laying curled up on his favorite shawl on the couch. We took him to the vets to be cremated, and when we returned, Mr. Eccles was wandering the house sniffing things, seemingly looking for his big, fluffy buddy and perhaps even wondering where he was.

But it’s silly to attribute human attributes to Eccles. But whatever was going through his head, it’s apparent he knew something was amiss.

With Rocky gone, no longer will there be the well-worn Bullwinkle jokes about pulling magicians out of hats every time The “Big Floofy Kitty” comes out to eat in the morning. No longer. No more.

With him gone, the universe has gone from Cosmic Latte in color to an ink black Espresso without cream or milk that sucks the remaining light from all that dare come near it. As I typed this, I kept looking up, almost expecting to see Rocky curled up and purring under my workspace’s lamp. All evening, I’ve caught myself watching my feet lest he be underfoot and get his tail stepped on by accident. As of this writing, Mom has returned from the vets since Rocky’s final visit there the day before yesterday, and he is now sitting on his favorite spot on my desk with my two other fur-babies, Sammi and Misty.

He lived a good life with us, with lots of love, and his friendship with Eccles was wonderful to see in the few years he was with us.

Here are a few moments we spent with him, big, adorable, fluffy ham that he was: