Lucky Billie: My Birthday Boy

Birthday boy!

Today Hopi turns two. :) Last year at the same date he was at the animal hospital with kidney problems. Two weeks later he was back there because he had a sewing needle stuck in his palate and tongue... He tried to eat the thread and almost swallowed the needle. Now I'm super careful.
I just got him out of the shelter on picture above. He was 5 months old and sick as hell! He had a huge cold and could bareky move because he was so weak.
Ha what an adventure! And I can't help thinking of my other cat, Bebop. He died a month before I got Hopi. I went on a trip to Chicago, he died the day after I left of pulmonary embolism. He was a huge cat, not fat, but very large. We've been told it happens a lot with large cat. They tend to have health problems.

Here's Bebop on the day I got him. He was two months old and tiny, who would have thought he would turn into this giant beast! ^^

Lazy boy!

He was very sweet and funny. I always thought he was a sad cat though. He liked to play all right but I don't know, there was something about him making me think he wasn't OK inside. He didn't like to cuddle much. He would come on my lap once a day, sit there for about 30 seconds and then go away.

I was In Chicago with my brother and friends when he died. We kept asking my parents about how the cats (my brother's and mine) were doing and they would elude all the quetions. By the end of the trip my brother called them because he could tell something was wrong. I got back to the hotel room to my brother telling me: 'I have bad news, it's not about Mom, nor Dad nor our grand pa...'. I knew it was about the cats. Bebop had died almost three weeks ago and my parents were keeping that from us so we could have a nice time in Chicago. My Dad was the one who found the body. He was devastated. I gave him a cat to look after and he couldn't give it back. Once back to France I couldn't gather up the courage to go back to my apartment without a cat. So my Dad took me to the shelter and this adorable kitty that is Hopi, just stole my heart! The lady there opened the cage and he jumped on me, curling up into a ball and purring. What could I do but take him home? He was five months old, the lady said kitten of this age were hard to place because they're not so much kittens anymore and still very rowdy. Plus Hopi was very sick. I didn't really care. I wanted to nurse him back to health and take care of him. He just wanted to cuddle all the time!

I haven't thought of a name for him at the time. I just couldn't settle on one. I wanted to find a name linked with the USA or american culture. I didn't have much work to do since his name at the shelter was Hopy... My Dad told me about the Hopi tribe of native americans, I just had to change the 'y' into a 'i' and that was it! This kitten was made for me to meet!

It's kind of painful to look at the pictures of Bebop. I'm glad I have Hopi now. And I know Bebop had an awesome life and I really enjoyed his company to the fullest. I'm just sad we didn't have more time together. But that's life. :/