Shadow B Gaddo

Shadow has been with us since April of 1989.

He died this morning in his backyard.

I'm hoping it was painless and I'm hoping it was in his sleep. He deserved that.

He was just a kitten when he came to live with us - a "housewarming" gift from a friend after suffering the loss of most of our belongings to an apartment fire.

For those of you that knew him, you knew a cat that was intelligent, loving and entertaining. He was named Shadow because, as a kitten he would defy gravity and chase his shadow up a wall. He was born with a crooked tail and when you felt it, it felt like there was a knuckle in there. This, along with his shiny black coat gave him the "Halloween Cat" appearance and thus earned him every Halloween night locked safely away in one of our rooms for fear of abduction, or worse.

I remember I used to get his attention by whispering "Get the buggie Shadow...get the buggie!" And he would look around intently and chase whatever was there - superball, Palmetto Bug...anything that moved. He was more than helpful during the "mouse infestation" period!

Lately he has been showing his age...just this past Saturday night he joined us in the living room for SUSHI AND A MOVIE and we noticed he was having trouble with his hind legs. He could hardly get up on the sofa to join us...but he did, and as he was tearing in to a piece of raw fish he seemed to be his old self again, if only for a few moments. Mary said that it felt like he came in to say goodbye. I think so, too.

17 years hold many memories and he will be missed around here. Goodbye old man.

Here are some PICTURES in remembrance...

My sister MELODY made a short goodbye VIDEO for us to watch as well.