Ode to Moonshine

**disclaimer--I realize I'm jumping around between tenses---deal with it if it bugs you :-) ** First of all, I hate having to write this now.  Many a time I had the talk with Moonshine that he would be the one cat out of the original three that I would find dead in a corner instead of having to make the decision of when to take him in.  Apparently cancer did not get that memo, so here we are. Where to begin for my old man?  The beginning is a good place, I suppose.  Sometime around 1998, when living in the shoebox apartment in Evans, CO, this stray cat would sit on the outside air conditioning unit and look in.  I tried to bring him in, but he would have no part in staying indoors, howling to go back to his territory.  He stank like crazy, but did enjoy the brush.  I left food, water, and a cozy place to sleep, which he never used, outside my door.  He gradually grew to allow me to pet him while he ate.  I noticed fresh battle wounds on his head one day, and that was that!  My aunt volunteered to pay for boarding him until I moved into a different residence.  He was officially named “Moonshine” because I wanted to name him after something you can only see at night since that was when he came around the apartment.

This new chapter in Moonshine’s life was a time of adjustment for him.   He now had to share his residence with two people, one dog, and three other cats.  He was a brawler and a bully.  He didn’t like cuddling too much, either.  He was neutered and declawed in front, and that helped him greatly to live in peace with others.  I do not advocate declawing, but it had to be done for the well being of the other cats.

It was here that I learned that I may have actually stolen Moonshine, but if I did, he deserved to be taken, given his condition.  A young boy in distress was finding temporary relief in our house when he looked at Moonshine and said he’d lost a cat looking just like that from where I used to live and about the time I moved away.  Mom offered him a Coke, and I quietly hustled Moonshine out of the room.

Mooner (one of his nicknames, along with Momma’s Big Boy, Mooner-Booner, Thug-a-Bug, King Moonshine, Måneskinn, and Grandpa) grew into being quite the cuddler, especially at bedtime.  He had to be trained for this.  I’d haul him into bed with me and give him back rubs.  For many years he has been my faithful bed buddy, crawling on my chest nightly for ‘sugar’ while I read.  I gently poke his side when I’m done, and he dutifully crawls to his cat bed at the foot of the bed.  Some nights if I’m not in bed on time, he’ll head butt me to tell me to come or just wait for me on my pillow.  I remember a cat sitter saying she got freaked when he climbed on her when she went to bed.

Moonshine didn’t always like staying at the foot of the bed during the night, especially in winter.  He took over Topaz’s role of trying to hog the pillow, usually with great success.  One of my absolute favorite memories of Moonshine will be the times I’d wake up in the middle of the night to find us nose to nose, my right arm flung around him and his left paw flung around me.  I have no idea how we’d get into that position, but it was nice. 

Moonshine was my first and very best feline killing machine.  He got to chase ground squirrels in South Dakota, but he had a blast with vermin invading his patio space here in Sheboygan.  He picked off just about an entire shrew nest, one at a time, one summer.  He also caught a couple of chipmonks and mice.  It was truly a sign of age when the kittens would go after something and Mooner wouldn’t bother to get off the couch. He was never quite sure what to do with a snake, but those were only in Sioux Falls.

One thing that’s never changed is Moonshine’s love for the brush and reading time.  I could wave the brush at him, and he’d come over.  If I used a deeper voice to slowly say, “brush”, he’d come over.  He also would plop on a pillow on my lap when I’d read a book or magazine.  Many an afternoon nap, for the both of us, began innocently enough with the intent of reading.

Moonshine has always been a very smart cat.  He’s too smart to play with cat toys, and he has trained me to do many things.  His kryptonite is car rides.  Put him in the carrier and there’s a 95% chance of him messing himself before we reach the destination.  There was a night in Pennsylvania where he was having a bladder blockage emergency.  I was new to the area, it was 11:30 PM, and I’m scared silly for him, trying to find the emergency clinic.  They saw the pee in the carrier and tell me, “At least it’s not a full blockage!”  He was treated for kitty kidney crystals and put on bottled water for the rest of the time we lived there and sworn off fish flavored cat food.

Moonshine was an only cat for a very short time, just a few months, after Topaz died and before the kittens arrived.  He really adjusted well to being #1, and I kinda felt bad for bringing the younger ones in.  I didn’t know how he’d react to the young whippersnappers.  I recall him standing in the kitchen, looking at Bjørn with this, “you’ve got to be kidding me” look.  Bjørn headbutted him and walked away.  Later, on the patio, Moonshine established dominance, and that was that.  He would not let the kittens sleep on my bed for the first two nights, but after that, all was well. 

Really, though, it was well on Moonshine’s terms.  He still had to keep order.  If he wanted to be in a spot that was already occupied, he’d go into “thug” mode.  He did that quite a bit with Sapphire and Topaz back in the day.  He’d sidle up to the other cat, slowly raise a paw, then start whacking until the other left.  Usually the other would run off once the intimidation began, before it had to resort to violence.  Once he was comfortably positioned, it was okay for the first cat to return and sleep with Moonshine, as long as he felt he was there first.

I guess now I’ve come to the end as I can't really chronicle every great moment I've had with my old boy.  I realize what a rock he was for me, a piece of real, lasting continuity in my life. If I think about it, outside of family, he's one of the longest, and by far the closest, relationships I've had.  We love our pets because of that unconditional love, and I will be lesser for losing that.  Moonshine has been a part of my every day life for many, many years, and I know there will be a huge hole when he is gone.  When I go to count the noses before leaving the house, the count has been three.  I look for him first when I come home.  A part of me goes with him in loss.  His was the best end of my three, thanks in part to catching his illness relatively early compared to the others and the magnificent compassion shown by the vet, whom I can't thank enough.  I will be able to settle his ashes with Topaz and Sapphire, so the original three can be united again (sort of, I know it’s corny, but it is what it is).  Moonshine, I love you, miss you, and gave you the best life I could, and I know you gave your best to me as well.