{"id":734,"date":"2009-05-02T00:06:03","date_gmt":"2009-05-02T04:06:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/thefurrybambinos.com\/?p=734"},"modified":"2009-05-01T22:01:12","modified_gmt":"2009-05-02T02:01:12","slug":"clyde-remembrance-day","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/thefurrybambinos.com\/gotcha-day\/clyde-remembrance-day","title":{"rendered":"Clyde Remembrance Day"},"content":{"rendered":"

Mom Here.\u00a0 The Furry Bambinos said that I could post today in honor of Clyde.<\/p>\n

Today is the anniversary of the day that Clyde came into our lives, back in 1992.\u00a0 We adopted Clyde as a tiny kitten, and compared to our other cat Mohawk, Clyde was “little one”.\u00a0 Clyde soon outgrew Mohawk, weighing nearly twice as much!<\/p>\n

We adopted Clyde on a sunny spring Saturday.\u00a0 David drove while Clyde frantically tried to get out of the cardboard carrier box.\u00a0 When I let Clyde out “just for a minute”, Clyde immediately scrambled over to David and climbed into his lap.\u00a0 Clyde loved David completely from Day One.\u00a0 He loved me, too, but he had an especially strong bond with “Daddy”.\u00a0 He always had such a sweet expression on his face.<\/p>\n

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Clyde taught us how to play fetch with him.\u00a0 We got a yellow plastic spinny toy that looked like a wheel out of a cereal box.\u00a0 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.\u00a0 That was our cue to congratulate him and then send it spinning again across the room.<\/p>\n

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.\u00a0 Clyde would assist me while I studied.\u00a0 This photo is Clyde posing with a college dictionary.\u00a0 Note the serious expression on his face.<\/p>\n

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We originally adopted Clyde as a companion to our cat Mohawk, but Clyde soon asserted himself as Top Cat.\u00a0 Despite this pecking order between Mohawk and Clyde, it was Clyde who was the timid one when guests arrived.\u00a0 Clyde would make himself scarce as soon as the apartment buzzer rang.<\/p>\n

Clyde really liked to spend time with us, and would follow us from room to room.\u00a0 Luckily, Clyde usually would sit nearby, rather than ON our lap.\u00a0 He was just too big for my lap!<\/p>\n

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Clyde also liked to assist with laundry.\u00a0 We have lots of photos of Clyde in laundry baskets, among clean laundy.\u00a0 This photo is one of our favorites.<\/p>\n

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In the picture above, you can clearly see Clyde’s white “foofles”.\u00a0 Foofles are the area on a cat’s face just below the nose and above the upper lip.\u00a0 Clyde’s foofles are white.\u00a0 Clyde’s other really cool facial marking are his extra set of “eyes” above his real eyes.\u00a0 When Clyde’s real eyes were closed, it looked like his “extra eyes” were open.\u00a0 Clyde’s “extra eyes” are the white and black markings just above his real eyes.\u00a0 See what I mean?\u00a0 Do any of you tabbies out there have “extra eyes”?<\/p>\n

Clyde was an unusually talkative cat.\u00a0 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.\u00a0 He would sing to us, and when we responded with a comment or question, Clyde would continue the conversation.\u00a0 We had to feed Mohawk and Clyde separately because Clyde would just about inhale whatever we fed him, then go after Mohawk’s food.\u00a0 Dr. Keith, one of the V-E-T’s the kitties have seen, refers to this as being a “food bully”.\u00a0 But he was just a really big boy with a huge appetite.<\/p>\n

The Furry Bambinos have Clyde to thank for their own adoptions.\u00a0 After Clyde went to the Rainbow Bridge in February 2007, it took us awhile before we were ready to consider adopting again.\u00a0 We made a visit to our local PetSmart to flirt with the kitties in the adoption area.\u00a0 That’s when we saw Padre.\u00a0 Because of his resemblance to Clyde, we were all mushy about him.\u00a0 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?”<\/p>\n

We fell in love with Padre, but remembered our desire to adopt two siblings.\u00a0 Enter Panda Bear and Meerkat.\u00a0 Panda Bear, always the outgoing one, pawed at us through his cage.\u00a0 When we opened the cage door, Meerkat hung back, but Panda Bear literally leapt into my arms.\u00a0 We were not sure we wanted to go from having zero cats to having three cats.\u00a0 The main concern I had was would the three cats get along with each other.\u00a0 The main concern David had was would my allergies and asthma handle such an abrupt furry transition.\u00a0 We debated and discussed, went for a drive, came back later, and filled out the application to adopt all three kitties.<\/p>\n

So it’s because of Padre’s resemblance to Clyde that The Furry Bambinos are now part of our fambly.\u00a0 Thanks for indulging me while I honor Clyde’s memory today.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"