Named for the controversial World Champion and Tour de France winner Fausto Coppi, Fausto and his brother Bugno, of course named for another bicyclist Johnny Bugno, were adopted by Jim as kittens 19 years ago. Bugno got something that none of the vets ever really could diagnose and died 11 years ago. Fausto, missing his brother, bonded to Jim like no cat I have ever seen bond to a human... except for maybe my boy Rudy.
He was a special boy who loved watching squirrels, rolling in catnip, licking Jim's nose and when Jim travelled for work he would even stoop to give my schnoz a good going over. The last couple years he started having some physical problems... a stroke from high blood pressure (apparently it's very stressful having two humans wait on you hand and foot), and then what the vets figured was a tumor in his head. It made him unable to make a right turn so we jokingly called him Nascar Kitty since all he could to was turn left. We gave him a steroid and a half a heart pill everyday for the last two years.
He never did fully come back from the stroke but he did improve and was able to walk in a (mostly) straight like without circumnavigating the globe to get to the kitchen. We eventually moved his food dish to the bedroom so he didn't have to make even that trip. The day came when he stopped eating and even though he'd had down cycles in his eating before this time was different. He had been continually losing weight since his first event even though he ate voraciously. At this point he had nothing left in reserve and we both knew it. The day after he stopped eating he had a seizure and we knew it was time.
Our regular vet was already gone for the weekend and Cats Exclusive would be closed by the time we could get there. Thankfully the kind people at VCA Vet Center in Lynnwood were able to take us in immediately and mercifully euthanize (such a sterile, unemotional word for what actually happens) Fausto and end his suffering. We miss him but know his pain is gone and he's chasing his brother somewhere over the Rainbow Bridge.
