Shrines

Pedro was a very good boy. We adopted him from Orange County Animal Shelter in July of 2023. We were blessed with two wonderful years with him. Unfortunately, his health caught up with him and his quality of life was severly declining.

When we first saw Pedro, he had been in the shelter for two months. The first was spent getting treated for severe lice and flies, having more than four rounds of lyme dip baths, and being shaved bald. The next month was spent in his kennel in the shelter, where the coordinator would come take him out to go around and see the kittens and meet people. However, he spent a month being passed up by potential adopters, likely due to the combination of him being a large male cat (second largest at the time other than Big Shirley, the un-neutered male cat a few rows over), him being a black cat, and also his diagnosis of Feline Immunodeficiency Virus (FIV). He also was not young, the shelter pinned him as 3 years old. According to them, he was turned in by whoever domesticated him due to not being able to handle the fleas and lice combo, and he had clearly spent time in the wild and had many scars on his ears from fights.

We fell in love with him right away. He was a noisy, talkative lover boy who liked being held. They made sure to warn us multiple times about his constant trilling and humming and meowing during the test interactions!

He made gobble noises when he ate, he grunted loudly when using the litter box, and he woke us up many mornings with his signature "MAH!" and loud trilling. He was known to knock over the trash can to try to scavenge Publix fried chicken bones, which he got in trouble for many times. He loved to sit by the back door watching lizards in the back yard, and smacking the glass to scare them off. He would snuggle with us, burrowing himself right into our necks, and he would often lay on me while I read or played video games. He greeted us by scratching on the cardboard scratchers we would make for him, those were some of his favorite things. He also loved whipped cream. If I put whipped cream on my coffee, he was quick to jump on the counter to try to lick it and was successful a few times! He was known to try to dive into the butter tub if we had it out while cooking, and once left a nose print. I would also buy sardines to snack on with crackers, and I always made sure to get plain sardines in water with no extra salt added. I would give him his own sardine or two to snack on in a tiny crystal bowl, which always excited him.

He was spoiled and loved on up to the end. He struggled with his health in decline, and we are glad he is finally able to rest peacefully. Rest in peace Mr. Pedro.

P.S. The Shelter said he was three, but his vet pinned him to be at least between 4-6 years old on his first visit judging by a glance at his teeth. On his final trip, the vet said although they had him marked in the system as 5 years old but he was more likely at least 8 years old by that point. Over the last year, It looked like he may have just been starting to sprout a few white hairs, but we couldn't tell if it was part of his natural fur like recessive genes showing, or aging. All that to say it was likely aging, and he had gotten to live a very full life for a cat with a severe immunodeficiency. His last two years were spent as the only baby in the house. Even when we'd open the doors and he could just make a break for the wild, he never did. He would kind of peek, but I think he remembered his wild days and decided being an indoor cat with a cushy life was better. With all the sardines, whipped cream, cuddles, and his favorite cat TV livestreams, I truly believe his last two years were awesome.