On July 30 we lost our beautiful 15-year old cat Buford to melanoma. What a sweetheart Buford was. He was the most affectionate of all our cats. He was so easy-going that all he wanted was his bed and his food and to snuggle up next to me at night. He’d lay at the bottom of the bed waiting for me to come to bed then walk up and tap me on the shoulder to turn onto my left side so he could cuddle!

I see him racing across the kitchen floor to chase a plastic ball. He would make the biggest racket trying to get that ball! And sometimes he would pick it up in his mouth and bring it back and drop it at my feet for me to throw again. When he chased that ball he reminded me of a dog, with his paws flailing. Or I would throw little ice cubes down the basement steps and Buford would wait at the bottom to chase them.

He was never sick a day of his life until he developed hyperthyroidism about six months ago, then the melanoma. So I guess he was one lucky cat – to have had such a healthy life with people who loved him dearly. But we were lucky too – to have been blessed with such a loving kitty. And to think that had we not decided to give him and his sister Rhea a home when they were six weeks old, they might have ended up at the bottom of the river or put out with the other ferals to struggle for existence. When I think that Buford might never have had a life at all, I am so happy that he had 15 wonderful years with us.