Mourning the Loss of Stanley

Few of our other pets have been friend, companion and lover the way Stanley was. He was special; and this is not just post-mortem subjectivity; we knew this all along. He was physically affectionate but also demanding for that in return. He had several behaviors that were special:

• When held he insisted on left-shoulder only, never right shoulder.
• He would lay his head down on your shoulder or neck and stay there for a long time.
• He liked to kiss (lick) a lot but if you moved your hand around to much or too quickly, he would give you a love-bite – you’d feel his very sharp teeth on your skin but only just touching, never penetrating. I always thought of what he could do to my flesh if he had wanted to.
• When I would get up at night for my 3am trip to the bathroom, Stanley would usually get up also and accompany me; or he would go down the hall and wait out of sight until I returned to the bed; whereupon, he would come running past me racing to beat me to the bed and our love time together. Startled me at first.
• He would find me sitting at the desk in the den in front of my computer. He would gently tap me on the back several times to let me know he was there. And then leap to my shoulder or the desk and demand that I hold him. He would stay for a few minutes, leave, then return again and again.

After our previous [Siamese] cats (Rupert & Jasmine, litter-mates) died we decided we wanted another Siamese. So we stopped at a Pets Plus or something to see what they had and we found this Siamese kitten named Oliver and picked him. The attendant suggested that we might take his little black & white buddy because they were always together. So we did. We named him Stanley, the two recalling Laurel & Hardy. We even had pictures of Stan Laurel & Oliver Hardy in the cats’ room.

Oliver turned out to be a problem: he was an incorrigible sprayer indoors: on furniture, floors, walls. So Jean took him on the long trip to Animal Control and we were left with Stanley.

Such a blessing…………