My Beloved Izzy

As many of you know, I lost Izzy a few months after I lost Howie. That sucked. Izzy missed Howie. He took to sleeping on the mat by the front door which had always been Howie's spot. It was as though he was waiting for Howie to come back through the door. Izzy passed away on June 1, 2007. He had lymphoma and fatty liver disease.

Izzy was fuzzy, furry, fat and friendly. He was a Maine Coon cat. He had the requisite fur collar around his neck. He had stripes on his massive, furry tail like a raccoon that you could only see in the right light. He had a bit of fur that stuck out from the tips of his ears. He was possesive. He thought he was a dog. He played fetch. He played tug-of-war. He liked sleeping at the foot of the bed on my feet, when he wasn't sleeping on my stomach. He was a gorgeous cat. He was 25 pounds of fluff and "big bones". His tummy was covered in curly, fluffy fuzz. He loved having his tummy rubbed. When he was in the mood, that is. He also loved having that spot right in front of his ears rubbed. He loved his treats. And he knew how to be snuggly and adorable when he wanted to be.

He had this lazy way of licking his paw as though he was about to start washing his face and then he'd just stop and go to sleep. As previously mentioned he was polydactl, meaning he had an extra claw on his front paws. He looked like he had opposable thumbs and when he held anything in his paws you would swear he did. He liked licking the top of Howie's head when Howie would let him. He liked to groom my hair. He had the loudest meow you could imagine. And an exceptional purr. And I miss him.