If Tikie’s loss at the end of 2025 wasn’t bad enough, 2026 said hold my champagne. Not even a week into the new year, we lost our beloved Tiger, also to kidney failure. He lived with us a month shy of 17 years, and was approximately 20 years old. He was the first kitty I brought home when I was a shelter volunteer, and you can read that story here.

Heartbreak is inevitable when you bring a furry companion home, and you know that going into it. Letting them go when it’s their time is the final act of love you can do for them. In Tiger’s case, he chose to leave on his own terms, passing away peacefully in his bed at home, in front of the heat register. We are content with the knowledge that that was a perfect ending for him, having said our goodbyes before we left for work that morning. (We had a euthanasia appointment scheduled for that evening). He was cremated, and his ashes rest beside the others who have gone before him.

Tiger was a character when he was a young cat. He definitely had an attitude, and one vet thought he might have been a mix of Siamese and Bengal. He always let us know when it was time to eat, by getting on top of the dresser and proceeding to bat a picture frame against the wall, so you would wake up to wham, wham, wham!

That alone was a rude awakening. However, if you were the unfortunate soul who was on that side of the bed, you had to be aware of a falling lamp that was pushed off the dresser by an orange tabby who thought he was starving. (He wasn’t). This lamp was far from being lightweight, and I don’t know how many bulbs we went through. It’s a wonder my poor husband never suffered a concussion from all the lamp landings his head absorbed. Did I mention all of this activity, the frame and lamp, occurred on his side of the bed?

Tiger rarely had a health issue until he got into his senior years. He once had a bout of crystals in his urine, but with veterinary intervention it cleared up quickly and never recurred. When he wasn’t eating as he should, our finicky feline was prescribed an appetite stimulant rubbed onto his ear, which resolved that issue. A couple years ago, both he and Tikie went to their yearly checkup together, and senior bloodwork revealed failing kidneys for both of them, with Tikie’s condition more severe.

Losing one elderly cat is hard enough, but losing a second so close to the first is devastating. Even when you know it’s coming and for the best, it’s an awful reality. Our feline numbers dropped from 5 to 3 in less than a month. The house seems quieter, the routine shorter, as we mourn the passing of our beloved kitties. We’re giving the remaining three extra love and attention because they surely miss Tiger and Tikie, as grief is not limited to humans.