Sylvester and Sebastian


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July 21, 2023
SAD UPDATE

I put Sylvester down early this evening.  He was just 11 years old.

It was time.  He had cancer.  He also had a 1.5 inch diameter tumor in his abdomen.

He wasn't eating, he wasn't interacting with me or his step brothers, he didn't want to go outside...
When he walked, he walked very gingerly, and very slowly.
He was in obvious pain and discomfort, and had been for at least the past two weeks. 
(Probably longer than two weeks.  That's just when I first noticed it.)

He was the absolute best pet I ever had.  He would sit on my lap, just about every single day. 
He really enjoyed my company.  He really liked being with me.

I'm really gonna miss him.  I adopted him on Monday, January 14th, 2013. 
I had the pleasure of taking care of him for exactly 3,840 days... just a bit more than ten and a half years.




You were my sunshine, my little sunshine.
You made me happy, when skies were gray.
You'll never know dear, how much I loved you.
Saying goodbye to my sunshine today.
 

 

Sylvester
and
Sebastian

My apologies.  Most all of these pics were taken with my crappy cell phone camera! 
As thumbnails on my cell phone they don't look at that bad, but once I transferred the images to my computer,
and looked at them full size, I realized how terrible my cell phone camera is!

I really need to get another digital camera!!  (My last one broke, about a year ago.)


 

This is Sylvester. Sylvester is a domestic short-haired male. I adopted him on Monday, January 14, 2013. At that time I was told he was about 8 months old, give or take a month.
 
His previous owner, a young man by the name of Jason, was relocating to a new home and he had to give Sylvester away, although he really didn't want to. Jason posted an ad on Craigslist and I still remember how it began: "I'm very sad I as I write this post..."

I saw the ad and responded to it.  I was looking for a cat to replace my previous cat, Baby Boy (aka Shadow), who was killed by a coyote a couple of months earlier.

Sylvester is a "tuxedo cat."  A tuxedo cat is not a specific breed, just a popular name for a black cat that has white paws and a white belly.  I seem to have a fondness for them.

 

 

When Sylvester was given to me he had never been to a vet before, so I took him to get his shots, get neutered, etc. 

Sylvester was a "lap cat" when I got him. He would often jump in my lap and sit and purr and purr and purr while I pet him. On his first night at my condo he did this, and that told me he was happy here with me and everything was going to be okay with the two of us. (He did NOT like the car ride to my condo.) 

However, lately Sylvester doesn't seem to be much of a lap cat much anymore, and I'm not sure why. What he WILL do, every single morning, about 30 minutes or so before I wake up, is jump on my bed, knead me on my chest, and then lie on my chest for 30 minutes or more.   Update:  At some point he turned back into a lap cat.  For the past few years he usually sits on my lap at least once each day, whether I'm working at my computer or reclining in my living room chair, watching TV.

Sylvester doesn't like loud noises. He hides when I operate the vacuum, he hides when he hears loud noises outside, etc.

What he does like is for me to play with him.  When he wants to play, which is just about every minute of every day, he will come to me and start crying/meowing. When I get up from my chair or my desk, he wants me to follow him to an area of my condo that we often play together.

His favorite games are chasing his "feather on a stick" toy, chasing the red light on my light pointer, and chasing after (and gnawing on) an old shoelace of mine. I can't seem to play these games with him often enough to suit him. 

He loves playing with bubble-wrap!  He loves jumping on it and walking on it and attacking feathers and shoelaces underneath it.

Like many other cats, he loves boxes, paper bags, etc.

 

 

He was an "outside cat" before I adopted him, and during our first few months together we would go for little walks outside my condo, just about every day.

During these walks I never let him out of my sight, but I let him go wherever he wanted.  He would smell the flowers and the grass and climb trees and chase birds, and interact with the pets of some of my neighbors.

He's a very good tree climber!  He is fearless! He goes up very high and never has a problem in coming back down!  Update: His tree climbing days are just about over.  These past few years he hasn't done much climbing lately.

I don't let him outside as much anymore. (He gets all of his exercise chasing and running after and from Sebastian.)

 

When I get out of the shower/bathroom each morning, I know exactly where Sylvester is. He can always be found behind the bedroom door, waiting for me to come out of the bathroom and play with him.

He wants me to place something underneath the door, from the other side, so he can "attack" it. It doesn't matter what it is - a stick, a pencil, a feather, paper towel, etc.  Whatever I stick under the door, he likes to pounce on it and attack it from the other side.

 

He wolfs down all of his meals very quickly, as if he hadn't had anything to eat in days and suspected someone might take this food away from him. He eats so fast he's already completely finished just minutes after I feed him!

Sylvester also likes the little bit of table scraps I give him.  His favorite scraps are tiny pieces of chicken, turkey, beef, lunch meat, etc.  In fact, when I'm in the kitchen and I call him, he comes running to me, as fast as he can, because he knows I'm going to give him a special treat. (He rarely comes when I call him at any other time!)  The amount of scraps I give him probably amounts to less than half a teaspoon, but he seems to enjoy it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is Sebastian, a domestic long-haired male. I adopted Sebastian on May 4, 2013. I adopted him so Sylvester would have a companion/playmate when I'm at work or away for the weekend.  I adopted him from a girl named Tracey, who also posted an ad on Craigslist.

As it turns out, Sebastian and Sylvester are just about the same age.  Sebastian is just a couple of months younger than Sylvester is.

 
Sebastian is a black and white cat, but he has too much white fur on
him to be considered a "tuxedo cat," in my opinion.

 

When I adopted Sebastian he had already been neutered and already had all of his shots.

Sebastian is not nearly as "skittish" as Sylvester is.  Loud noises don't seem to bother him at all.  For example, I can run the vacuum right next to him and he doesn't run away and hide.   (As soon as I pull out the vacuum, Sylvester is long gone!) 

He's also more "mischievous" than Sylvester is. For example, in all the months I've had Sylvester, he never showed any interest at all in jumping up on the very top shelf of my bookcase, or up and into the mid-level shelf of my hall closet, or on top of my refrigerator, etc.  But Sebastian does these things, and more, all the time.

Sebastian purrs and purrs when you pet him and brush him, as Sylvester did when I first got him.

 

Unlike Sylvester, Sebastian takes his time eating. He eats very slowly, as if he were enjoying every bite.  And what I can't figure out is he also seems to eat two or three times as much as what Sylvester does!  I'm not exaggerating!  I don't understand it at all, especially because he's noticeably a couple of pounds lighter than Sylvester!  Where does he put it all?

Sebastian doesn't seem to care for table-scraps, so I don't bother giving him any. I did find out, however, he does like tuna-fish, so when I make a tuna-fish sandwich, he and Sylvester will each get a few pieces, and I let them drink the water from the can.

 

When I put a box or a bag down on the floor, Sebastian will jump inside it before you can blink.  When I come home from the store with a bunch of bags of groceries, Sebastian is right there, helping me unpack them.

.

 

When I first introduced the two of them, they did not like each other or get along at all!  Their first few days together were terrible!  They'd growl at each other, from deep in their throats, and hiss at each other and came very close to fighting many times.  I didn't get much sleep at all those first few nights... I was constantly trying to keep the two of them from tearing each other apart!

Their attitude towards each other was so bad, early that next morning after I picked up Sebastian that I posted my own ad on Craigslist, offering to give Sebastian away.   After that first sleepless night, I assumed this great idea I had of a playmate/companion for Sylvester just wasn't so great of an idea after all, and that in no way would they ever become friends.

 


 

But I'm SO GLAD no one answered that ad - because now the two of them are best buddies. It took about a week, but they soon tolerated each other, and then soon put up with each other and then soon became friends.  Now I think they love each other.  The play together, they eat together, they take turns playfully chasing each other around my condo, etc.  At times, they take turns licking the back of each other's heads, as you might be able to tell in the three very blurry photos below.

 

Like many cats, both of mine love
looking out the windows.

Both Sylvester and Sebastian also love climbing and then hanging out on the very top level of my two cat condos.


 

 

Both Sylvester and Sebastian have very sweet dispositions. I don't have too many visitors, so when I do both of them are initially a little timid and shy towards my guest(s), but they both warm up to them and get over their shyness very quickly.

I brush them daily, even if only for a minute or two. Sylvester seems to enjoy being brushed a bit more than Sebastian does.  Sebastian enjoys it, (at least I think he does... he purrs when I brush him) but after a few moments he's already bored, and he walks away, as if he was already looking for something else that interested him.

 

Both Sylvester and Sebastian love watching all of the "cat videos" I have.  I have several, which includes a fish tank, sparrows and finches hanging out at a bird-feeder, etc.  They both seem to enjoy watching these videos, and others, for a long time.  They both like sitting right next to me, on my desk, when I'm using it.

 

 

 

Sylvester is named after the famous Warner Bros. cat from the Looney Tunes cartoons. ("Sufferin' Succotash.")

Since he was named him after a cartoon cat, I decided to re-name Sebastian (originally named Carlos) after a cartoon cat as well. The cartoon cat Sebastian is named after is Alexandra's cat, from the 1970's cartoon Josie and the Pussycats.

Funny... I rarely call either of them by these names. When I'm talking to them I usually address both of them as "Sweetie" or "Baby."

I guess that's because they are my sweet babies.



Update:

I recently contacted both of their previous owners and sent them a link to this webpage.  This was their response:

 
Ed,

Thank you for sending me this email.  It has been a long time and I have wondered what has become of Sylvester.  I am very happy to see how well you have taken care of him. I am sure he has been as good of a friend to you as he was to me.
 
By the looks of it, he ended up in the best possible place.  For that I am very thankful. 

Thank you again for sharing the facts about my old friend.  Take care and I hope the best for all of you.

Jason


 

Hi Ed!!!

I am so happy you sent me that link!  I was wondering how Sebastian was doing.  He's such a big kitty boy now!!  It looks like his behavior has not changed at all haha ALWAYS EATING and jumping on everything!  He's a sweetheart and I'm glad it worked out for you guys.

Take care and wishing you and the kitties all the best!!

Tracey


Both of you are very, very welcome.  My best to both of you as well.   - Ed

 

Tracey sent me a photo of Sebastian. 
Look!  There's my baby when he was a baby!


 

 

 

 

 

 

If you turn a couple of chairs upside down and place them on top of another couple of chairs, you create a couple of little "forts." 

My cats love sleeping in these "forts!"


 

 



 

 

I love my two babies!