Bear from Cleveland

by Brenda
(Cleveland)

Bear was a beautiful Black Smoke Persian. His energy was boundless, even though he had an enlarged heart.

I got Bear from a breeder in southern Ohio in the winter of 2008. He was 3 months old.

Bear was born on September 8, 2008. He was extremely independent from day one. What struck me when I saw him is that he was not trying to get my attention as the other kittens were. He simply ignored me. I guess that was his way of choosing me.

Bear cried for food around 5:30 am every morning. He was a greedy little boy. As the saying goes, he lived to eat, not ate to live. lol.

He had a personality out of this world. He was very vocal and loved to interact with people and other animals. Bear was raised with Chow pups and dogs, which is the reason that he was not afraid of dogs.

When he was 5 months old, he started wheezing. I thought that he may have had asthma, but later discovered that he had an enlarged heart. He was immediately placed on two heart medications that he would be on for life.

His heart ailment never stopped him. I called the breeder to let him know, and he said that I could return him for another. I would not think of doing that. He was already a part of our family, and we were going to care for him as any family would care for another family member.

As one of my co-workers, who happened to be our resident cat expert, said to me once, "Bear doesn't know that he is sick." Those words rang true until yesterday, 11/24/2018, the day that I had to put him asleep. One of the saddest days of my life.

My little boy earned his wings, heart and all. He lived and loved playing, along with getting into mischief. He was like a toddler, always into things.

One of his favorite pastimes was chewing on and jumping into boxes. The jumping and hiding in them was fun, the chewing them up was fun, too. I had to stop him from doing that, very quickly.

Bear is and was very special. I got him when my son went away to college. I needed something to care for and look after. I love him, and miss him like everything.

He is in heaven, watching, playing, and being the very best Bear that he can be with a brand new heart that works wonderfully well and is perfectly sized.