On Tuesday 29 April we said goodbye to our VP of Operations, Winston. He was just 5 1/2 years old. He came to us at the request of our vet. He’d been dropped off without a word at the vets door, left to fend for himself through a cold, rainy night. He required bottle feeding every hour or so and was covered in a “fever coat”. I held him by cupping him in the palms of both my hands. He was a feisty little fellow who cried long and loud. It was from his vocal prowess that earned the moniker “Winston” after that great orator, Winston Churchill.
My wife nursed him back to health and one day, through some incident I’ve forgotten about, bounded in to my working office that, at the time, also housed a very grumpy street warrior named Jeremiah. Jeremiah was very territorial and as a veteran of cat wars defended his turf with fang and claw. We expected the worst to happen to little Winston, but the tiny squeak and Jeremiah instantly became great buds. Winston roamed our home with the other cats while Jeremiah was restricted to my office. Winston, however, preferred to spend much of his time with his new, large friend. The two rolled around together with Winston being sat on by the 23 pound (!) Jeremiah when cleaning was needed. Over the years, the two became as bonded as any two cats I’ve ever known. Jeremiah died on 5 Sep 2022 with Winston by his side at the vet ER. Winston mourned and was never quite the vibrant lively cat he after his friend’s untimely death.
Because Winston spent so much time in my office, he became my cat. Before the Retreat was formally established, we had a ton of cats, having arrived in El Paso with about 15. Never the less, Winston was the cat who “owned” me and sat on my lap at will. Winston was also a favorite at the vet. Wearing a cat skull-n-bones harness, he would run out of the treatment room to jump on the receptionist’s desk to demand pets and treats. While there, he would survey the waiting room talking to everyone. He was such a happy cat except when his nails were being trimmed. He hated having his nails trimmed and his yells could be heard in Madagascar!
Winston loved to lounge on our server rack in the Retreat’s office. He would look over his kingdom and keep us company. In the evening, he would following me to my office where we would watch a movie together. He would either sit on my lap or lay on the desk beside my chair , in the close vicinity of my hand for easy access to pets.
Sometime in the middle of April, Winston started having less bounce in his step and became lethargic. We though he had a bad tooth but his blood work showed lower white blood cell count and other anomalies. IV medication required a return to the vet and then a several day stay. Blood work would get better then fall. The bad new happened on the morning of the 29th when the new testing indicated no functioning bone marrow. Primary leukemia had struck very hard and fast. There was really no hope and wanting to ease my furry friend’s passage, Winston died in my arms around 4:30 in the afternoon. God, do I miss that cat.
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