Babes of the Bayou: The Old Man and the C (for cute)

Odyseuss (Ody), is my 14 year old Maine Coon. I got him at 4 weeks old from a friend of my roommate at the time, Jen. He was from a litter of 4 kittens and the tragedy was that the mother had been struck by a car, leaving these poor little ones orphaned. There were two black, one white and one gray kitten. I chose my gray little guy and whisked him home to meet his brother Baxter who was Jen's new kitten.

Ody being stalked by my best friend's dog, Bear (whom passed away last year).

Bear after being sequestered outside for slobbering all over Ody one too many times.

Ody turned out to be a pretty mellow cat and had the joy of being walked around in a doll stroller by my daughter and romping up and down the stairs with Baxter. Baxter was diagnosed with FIV when they were around 2 years old. Wonderfully enough, he lived until a couple of years ago and Ody was never infected!

Baxter and Ody enjoying some gripping times with my daughter Elizabeth.

As times have passed and we've moved from place to place, Ody has always been there with me. He sits watch on the bed when I'm sick, daring any more germs to invade my space. He crankily watches Boo Boo and Zeus wrestle on the cat tree from his perch on the window.

Boo Boo and Ody.

This last year has been a stressful one for him, we moved from Florida to Louisiana along with all the our other animals. He's lost some weight and tends to look more grumpy than usual, especially around the fosters. Last week my brother lost his dog, Boochie (a miniature poodle) to old age. I couldn't help but reflect that all of us got our pets within 2 - 3 years of one another. Jen lost Baxter, then Lisa lost Bear and Rob lost Boochie. My daughter goes off to college next year and Ody is the last living amongst my close friends and ex-roommates pets. It's been a long strange trip Ody my friend, I hope we have a few adventures left together.