goodbye my blue-eyed, big-boned, cuddle-monster

Alright, it may or may not be obvious, but I have been avoiding something.  Two weeks ago when I posted my To-Do list you might have noticed a line that read "Blog Re: My Love Morgan." Well, it's about to get a little personal up in here (and very feline heavy), but here we go. . . .

I have wanted to write a post to honor the sweetest, most loving cat there ever was.  But to write about him would be to admit that he is really gone.
 

This is Morgan:

(fourth of July 2011, he always was a party animal)

He came to us when I was in High School.  We were cat-less for the first time in my life, and my Aunt was moving.  The apartment she lived in had a few strays living around it that the family had been taking care of, but they wouldn't be able to keep doing so when they moved.  So, that day we got two new family members.  Morgan and Zippy (of course Zippy turned out to be pregnant and we quickly went from 2 to 7!!).  Morgan was a good male role-model and taught the kittens to be independent, to hunt, and fight, and wander the great outdoors.

When we got him everyone joked that he was my boyfriend.  He'd follow me around, and cuddle me at night, and whine when I wouldn't give him all the attention he wanted.  And what girl wouldn't want a blond-haired, blue-eyed, muscle-bound man to call her own.

(I mean, c'mon, look at that face!)

It was hard to leave him when I went to college, but in the back of my mind I always had a plan to move back to Portland and take him for my own.  He was my chubby little baby, but on December 21st, 2011 he went outside and hasn't come back.

(cuddlin' in 2005)
We have a large coyote population in my neighborhood back in Portland.  There used to be a lot of undeveloped land, and wooded areas, but each year they build more houses and displace more of the wildlife.  Almost everyone in the neighborhood has lost a cat to the coyotes, it's all a part of the natural order, but that doesn't mean it's any less difficult to deal with.  I think the hardest part of losing a pet to any predator, is the lack of closure.  You never know for sure, there is rarely any physical evidence that they're gone.  In our neighborhood it is just assumed, if it's been a while since you've seen your cat then "the coyots got 'em" (that's literally what one neighbor told me when our cat disappeared when I was 10.)

(napping in a tray)
December 21st three of our four cats didn't come home at night.  Our cats do not miss meals, so my mom was a little worried.  The next day she called for them and Zippy and Mook (one of the kittens) came running, they were shaking and wide-eyed and hid for the rest of the day.  My parents had heard a from a neighbor that there had been a coyote wandering the streets in the day time lately, and it wasn't hard to connect the dots.  Morgan always protected the other cats, and we know that he would have done anything to keep them safe. Even though it has been 6 weeks since my parents last saw Morgan, there is still apart of me that thinks he might still be out there, but if he really is gone then at least he died a family hero.

(kitty kisses)
So, here's to you Morgan, we love you lot's and miss you tons.
I hope you're having a wonderful time up in kitty heaven, cleaning your crotch 'till your hearts content.