Eddie the cat

One of my absolute favorite pets that I sat for was Eddie. He was a big black cat who was in renal failure. He was having to receive SQ fluids daily and he was allowed to eat whatever he wanted. What Eddie wanted was meat flavored baby food. His mom always kept three flavors in the fridge because you just never knew what flavor Eddie would be in the mood for. And Eddie didn't just eat out of a bowl like a normal cat. He wanted you to heat up his baby food and lick it off you finger. This was not really so bad, what made it bad was Eddie's favorite time to eat was 1 am! There was NO sleeping through Eddie's demand for food. He had a very loud, piercing meow. He wouldn't meow a few times and give up. He would go on until you got up. Eddie was worth it so I'd get up, heat up his three flavors of baby food and park myself on the kitchen floor to figure out which flavor he is going to prefer. In the morning, I would go into the living room and get Eddie's special pillow that he would sit on while I administered his fluids. This is the part that astounded me. The fluid needle was by no means small but Eddie would sit there and take being stuck everyday like a champ. When I would go into the room he would come running over, jump on his pillow and instantly start purring and kneading his pillow. Eddie considered this his special "Eddie" time with his people. Where he got love and scratches until the fluid bag ran out and then some. If all it cost him was a little stick with a needle, then that was OK with him. Eddie was also unable to retract his claws so when he would walk down the hallway on the hard wood floors he would click. He LOVED to make kitty muffins (kneading). His pillow was his favorite but anything would work. I would be watching TV and here he'd come. Click, click, click down the hall. He'd get to the door and meow for permission to come in, then meow for permission to jump up with me. He'd curl up and go to work on the muffin making. I always sat with a blanket because I knew what he'd do and I wanted something between me and his nails. He would somehow end up kneading the bottom of my foot which tickled...BAD. Eddie was amazing. To this day he is the cat standard I judge all other cats by.