Zool the Destroyer

Zool the Destroyer, Devourer of Souls, passed on to mean kitty heaven this morning at 7:15am. Yes, there is a heaven for mean kitties. What a life he led and what a reputation he built. I told my dad the other day that he wasn't doing well and his reply was, "Has he been eating too many small children?" If a cat could be allowed into Valhalla, this would be the one (except he didn't die in battle hmmmmmm maybe they'll make an exception).

This is a cat who my boss found when he was 5 days old (after being swiped from another litter on the block by their momma kitty). I took him to the vet and was told, "Don't get attached to this cat. He's probably not going to make it." Mike, my brother and I fed and cleaned him around the clock for a month (his eyes weren't even open for another few weeks after we got him). He didn't even see another cat for probably 3 months and was only around dogs. He spent so much time with dogs that he thought he was a dog. If you came to visit he would come over and sniff your shoes. And yes, Gib was exactly right, if you did not acknowledge him as soon as he came to you, you might as well walk right out the door because he would spend your visit attacking you. And it wouldn't be a full on attack, it would be a sneak attack. And not playful. He would hurt you until you were VERY sorry you didn't give him the recognition he felt he deserved. AND you don't sit in his chair. Never sit in his chair. We had this recliner we inherited with the house and that was his place to sit. I sat there one night to walk some TV. I saw him from across the room watching me. And in a burst of evil flight he flew across the room, hit the coffee table, landed in my lap and slapped me in the face with his paw and took off. He would stalk us through the house until he caught up with us to bite a limb. So mean!

After Kiernan was born he attacked Mike and actually sent him to the hospital with a split open palm. It was then I told Mike, either we make him an indoor outdoor cat or we put him down. I was so scared for Kiernan, that as he grew up he would get attacked and seriously hurt. As Kiernan grew up, the cat just kind of kept his distance but I still didn't trust the two to be in the same room by themselves without an adult present. I remember the day I heard Kiernan crying in the back of the house. Out he came crying, "Kitty bit me! Kitty bit me!" I was expecting the absolute worse and rushed over to check him for blood and on his hand was a teeny tiny dent in his skin. AND a handful of hair. I asked, "Did you pull the kitties tail?" "Yes!" he sobbed. "Then you got what you deserved." And that's how the cat was with "his boy." Very gentle and when he felt he was getting too much lovings, he'd leave. Mind you, the same courtesy was not extended with adults. It's like he knew his life depended on how nice he was to the boy.

He got hit by a car once. The vet figures he got hit hard enough that he crawled off the road and passed out for like a day and then dragged himself home (literally dragged because he had some nerve damage in his right front leg and couldn't walk very well).

It cats are supposed to have 9 lives, he was on life #11.