Sterling

I took this picture on my first visit to the cat sanctuary on May 3, 2009.

This is Sterling, though I didn’t know it at the time. I took his picture because I thought him a handsome cat.

He first came to the sanctuary 8 or 9 years ago when the lady who had been feeding him and a number of other strays who hung around her home passed away and RAPS was called to take the cats. I was surprised to hear that Sterling was not always called Sterling. Initially, his similarity in appearance to a then resident called Puddytat earned him the name Puddytat2, which he carried with him for some time until Gaye decided a more sophisticated name was really needed for him, and so he came to be known as Sterling.

This is not to say that he is in any way standoffish. Sterling loves few things more than a nice warm lap, has been known to give little a love bite or two, and has often been encountered perched on the very corner of whatever he’s standing on just so he can get a little closer to his visitors.

Sanctuary staff had hoped to find a nice home for him but, for whatever reason, he just never got picked. We know his value, though, and so Sterling has had no shortage of people who love him at the sanctuary.

The passage of time being what it is, these days Sterling is, like all too many of our old timers, slowly winding down. With various health problems including nonregenerative anemia, it’s remarkable he’s still hanging in there as well as he is.

The pictures below of our still handsome boy were taken this evening, exactly one year after the first one.

 

Updated August 23, 2010: After hanging in there long enough to enjoy what must have been a 10th, 11th, 12th life, Sterling finally started his final fade over the past week or so and left us today. Although his passing can’t exactly be called a surprise, the moment, when it comes still brings sadness. We’ll miss you, little buddy.