Klinger

Hey all, I am back from PA/MD!! I will let you know all about it later.. it is late.. I need to go to bed.
I just wanted to post this.
Why do deaths seem to come in 2s? Last year I lost 2 Grandparents within 6 months of each other. And now 2 animals (don't freak Rox - it is not Mollie!).
My parents cat Klinger died earlier today. He was 23 years old. The story of how we got Klinger is an interesting one. He used to be my neighbors cat, the husband got the cat right before they got married... and because my neighbor would sometimes take care of me - my first memory of him was as a kitten.
Klinger was an indoor/outdoor cat till the last year of his life. Because of this I saw him a lot outside growing up. Well one day the neighbor had a baby... and he was unshure of that.. 4 years later they had another child.. and he started spending more time with us. I think it was this time that he would hang out at our house and my Dad would call the neighbor and say we were letting Klinger out and it was cold outside, so could you call him home. My Dad always said he was not our cat.. yes we may feed him off and on, but we were not going to have a litter box. Well he was spending more and more time with us and the neighbors bought a dog - Klinger never liked other animals. So he pretty much packed his bags and moved in.
After a short time my Dad would be the one responsible for him getting his shots and after doing that for a couple years he put his name on as the owner at the vet. And then the big day... he bought him a litter box. We knew from then on he was ours.
This year has been a hard one on Klinger.. we knew his health was getting bad..cats just don't live as long as he had.. well Dad stopped letting him outside without someone to follow him... then he moved the aforementioned litter box upstairs... then he created a little barriered corner for him in the litter box. At the same time they found a tumor in his neck, found he needed IV fluids every 3-4 days and he was losing weight.
Well this weekend when knew his days were close to over. I guess he stopped eating and was sleeping in the litter box because it was more comfortable. This morning after my Mom left for work, my Dad got up and he found him dead in his bed.
It is hard knowing he is gone. Though I knew he did not have long. The person who took it the hardest is my father. Because he is home much of the day - they kept each other company. I feel so bad. I went over there today after I got off the plane (with Nick and the kids) and Dad made us dinner and I went and saw Klinger. My Dad and Brother will probably take him over to be creamated tomorrow.
Bye Bye my first Baby!!!

Sorry this post is a downer. I did have a ton of fun on my trip and I was so excited to see my husband and kids. Like I said, I will write it down soon.
Well off to bed... tomorrow it is back to work!
C-Ya!