Tyson was put to sleep on Saturday, August 5th 2006. He was found to have an advanced case of [lymphosarcoma](http://maxshouse.com/Oncology/lymphosarcoma.htm “Lymphosarcoma is a neoplasm of malignant lymphocytes in solid organs (link)”) extending through his intestines, liver, kidneys, and lymph-nodes.
I had my little buddy since he was 3. He came to my home by way of my aunt. She had Tyson and another cat that would hassle Tyson to the point of a nervous wreck. My aunt found a new home for him with me. He hid under my bed for a few days before greeting me. Over time he realized I wasn’t going to do anything and he explored. At the sign of any noise or intrusion though and _bam_ he was back under the bed.
We grew in each others company. He lost his shy guy self and so did I. This cat hung out with some crazy bachelors for a time. When Robin joined the family it was like any other day. He accepted her attentions and found great comfort in her lap (probably watching Tivo’d General Hospital (_hah_)). He was always a daddy’s boy though. If I walked out a room he was in, 9 times out of 10 he’d come following.
We always encouraged him. Like training anything it was curious to see where reward and incentive went with a cat. We worked on his speaking and he could really chatter if you got him going. I’ll never know exactly what we talked about but its relevance rarely mattered. In the last few years he really took to toys and trophies. So we encouraged a good deal of play. Whether it was wrestling with me (and boy could he), or running up and down the stairs to a long-tailed toy, he had a good deal of it. He even began to drag his play sticks up to us in bed at regular intervals. He would mew incessantly for a good 5 minutes or so. It was always a wry laugh, and maybe a random pillow tossing. I’ll miss it.
Inversely I think he was trying to train me. He was an accurate alarm clock with a near infinite snooze setting. He would start at 7:00am, Monday through Sunday, and no matter what you did he would hit you up in 30 minute increments until you got out of bed and fed him. While I’ve worked from home his routine has become clock work to me. Wake, eat, restroom, sleep, sleep, sleep through lunch, three oclock bed to chair transfer stopping by for whats left in the bowl and water, sleep, sleep, mew for dinner, sleep through our dinner, andy hits couch snuggles with the family, over to chair sleep, upstairs sleep, sleep, sleep, wake in night to probably bother Andy, sleep, wake Andy for food…insert random play time, rinse repeat.
Robin and I miss him. By now we’ve been through the entire gammut of emotion and are well on the mend. I just get taken back at hearing him in another room, or a shadow in my eye. As I told some friends, if he’s an old soul may his trip be complete, if new may he continue and we meet again, or if he was me I hoped I’d had a great experience.
Thanks for sharing in the memory of a departed friend, Tyson.