Clyde Remembrance Day

Mom Here.  The Furry Bambinos said that I could post today in honor of Clyde.

Today is the anniversary of the day that Clyde came into our lives, back in 1992.  We adopted Clyde as a tiny kitten, and compared to our other cat Mohawk, Clyde was “little one”.  Clyde soon outgrew Mohawk, weighing nearly twice as much!

We adopted Clyde on a sunny spring Saturday.  David drove while Clyde frantically tried to get out of the cardboard carrier box.  When I let Clyde out “just for a minute”, Clyde immediately scrambled over to David and climbed into his lap.  Clyde loved David completely from Day One.  He loved me, too, but he had an especially strong bond with “Daddy”.  He always had such a sweet expression on his face.

Clyde taught us how to play fetch with him.  We got a yellow plastic spinny toy that looked like a wheel out of a cereal box.  When we rolled it across the floor, Clyde would go running after it, retrieve it in his mouth, carry it back to us while yodeling (“mrrooww, mrrooww-ooo”). Then Clyde would drop his toy into an empty Kleenex box.  That was our cue to congratulate him and then send it spinning again across the room.

Clyde reallly liked to help me with my classwork. Although I worked full time, I occasionally took some classes at the university where I worked.  Clyde would assist me while I studied.  This photo is Clyde posing with a college dictionary.  Note the serious expression on his face.

We originally adopted Clyde as a companion to our cat Mohawk, but Clyde soon asserted himself as Top Cat.  Despite this pecking order between Mohawk and Clyde, it was Clyde who was the timid one when guests arrived.  Clyde would make himself scarce as soon as the apartment buzzer rang.

Clyde really liked to spend time with us, and would follow us from room to room.  Luckily, Clyde usually would sit nearby, rather than ON our lap.  He was just too big for my lap!

Clyde also liked to assist with laundry.  We have lots of photos of Clyde in laundry baskets, among clean laundy.  This photo is one of our favorites.

In the picture above, you can clearly see Clyde’s white “foofles”.  Foofles are the area on a cat’s face just below the nose and above the upper lip.  Clyde’s foofles are white.  Clyde’s other really cool facial marking are his extra set of “eyes” above his real eyes.  When Clyde’s real eyes were closed, it looked like his “extra eyes” were open.  Clyde’s “extra eyes” are the white and black markings just above his real eyes.  See what I mean?  Do any of you tabbies out there have “extra eyes”?

Clyde was an unusually talkative cat.  He especially enjoyed conversing with us while we prepared his meals. In fact, his whole mealtime routine made Snoopy’s suppertime dance seem pathetic. Clyde would begin by rubbing up against us, sashaying back and forth, and rubbing the can of stinky goodness with his chin.  He would sing to us, and when we responded with a comment or question, Clyde would continue the conversation.  We had to feed Mohawk and Clyde separately because Clyde would just about inhale whatever we fed him, then go after Mohawk’s food.  Dr. Keith, one of the V-E-T’s the kitties have seen, refers to this as being a “food bully”.  But he was just a really big boy with a huge appetite.

The Furry Bambinos have Clyde to thank for their own adoptions.  After Clyde went to the Rainbow Bridge in February 2007, it took us awhile before we were ready to consider adopting again.  We made a visit to our local PetSmart to flirt with the kitties in the adoption area.  That’s when we saw Padre.  Because of his resemblance to Clyde, we were all mushy about him.  Diana, one of the PAWS rescue group’s volunteers, and Padre’s foster mom, asked those famous last words: “Would you like to pet him?”

We fell in love with Padre, but remembered our desire to adopt two siblings.  Enter Panda Bear and Meerkat.  Panda Bear, always the outgoing one, pawed at us through his cage.  When we opened the cage door, Meerkat hung back, but Panda Bear literally leapt into my arms.  We were not sure we wanted to go from having zero cats to having three cats.  The main concern I had was would the three cats get along with each other.  The main concern David had was would my allergies and asthma handle such an abrupt furry transition.  We debated and discussed, went for a drive, came back later, and filled out the application to adopt all three kitties.

So it’s because of Padre’s resemblance to Clyde that The Furry Bambinos are now part of our fambly.  Thanks for indulging me while I honor Clyde’s memory today.