Goodbye Zephyrus, you wonderful cat

Yesterday

It's been a really hard day. We had to say goodbye to Zephyrus, one of our cats. This is my wife's post about him.

Zephyrus's story has an unknown start but picks up when he showed up at the backdoor of our vet's office when he was about 18 months to two years old. It was freezing cold outside and he came for food. He was skittish and would stay just far enough away. After a couple of days, one of the vet techs said "stuff it" and she was going to follow him. She followed him and found that he was living under a park bench surrounded by tumbleweeds. Who knows how he had managed to survive since it had been a particularly cold several weeks and it turns out that he had no front claws. The cold winds of winter gave him frostbite. His ears froze, fell forward, and then cauliflowered. He had frostbite on his bottom lip and his nose. He would most times smell through his mouth and he had a twitch on his left leg/paw likely due to some nerve damage somewhere.

But he was a fighter. A calm and gentle fighter but a fighter no less.

He recuperated with our vet and while there he crossed paths with Julian when he went to pick up Aristaeus' pawprint. J decided that McZ was definitely going to come live with us, and within a few days he told me that he wanted me to meet a cat at the vet so see if he was a fit for us. I really had no choice, and I was a bit worried because Zephy seemed to be so untrusting that I wasn't sure he could bridge the gap. We brought him home to meet his brothers. At first, he feared people (he didn't particularly like women) and plastic bags. In our minds we think he was chucked out by a woman in a plastic bag and somehow, he managed to survive. Every day when it was cold outside we would be reminded of what McZ suffered and we were glad that we were able to give him a safe, warm home.

Sadly, because of his ears people always thought he was mad but he wasn't - he was handsome. Just in a different way.

On the day he came home with us, J and I went off to lunch. While eating chips and salsa, we pulled out our Greek mythology book in search of name for our new kitten. It was the Ides of March in 2014. Trying out different ideas for our newest ginger cat we landed on Zephyrus - the Greek god of the west wind, the warm spring winds. The winter wind had lashed out at him, but we were giving him warmth, a safe home, and a family. Over the years his nicknames were Zephy, Zephy Z, McZ, and ZZ.

Musey, our tabby who got along with everybody, welcomed McZ and soon so did his other brothers (although he and Tyke would spar at each other with swear words now and then). When Sirius came along, McZ commandeered himself to be Sirius' buddy whether Sirus liked it or not. Sirius would "puppy purr" at him when Z would headbutt him or wash his forehead or curl up next to him. While Siri would complain for a few seconds, he just gave up and the two would be fine with each other and McZ totally happy to be with his puppy brother. Sometimes he enjoyed Siri's food - in the mornings if Sirius was being non-committal about eating his breakfast all it took was McZ coming by and sniffing at his plate to make Sirius eat his breakfast. McZ would then wait to see if there was anything left that he might be able to lick off the plate (usually no, but there might be a chopped carrot or two).

Z was a long, lean ginger with a titch of white on the edge of his rather long tail. He would be very particular about how he tucked the end of his tail when snoozing. He had springs in his back legs and would jump higher than any of his brothers. When spooked by something, sometimes he would do the hop up into the air thing and he got fairly high off the ground. He was always cautious on approach and we could never quite break him of that. One time we came home to find him on the mantel over the fireplace looking rather pleased with himself that he was up there and also that he knocked down and damaged the rim of one of the large glass vases (which still is on the mantle today). Oh, and the times at Christmas when he would walk on the banisters in between the garlands and look at me and say "see mom, I did it." He and I had some words over that habit.

He loved having his belly rubbed (only by his mum) and his forehead and whiskers. When he would sit, his posture was so good that he reminded me of the cat in the Chat Noir French poster, only being the ginger cat version. When held, he did not like being held in your arm like a baby but preferred to be held against my chest and being able to see over my shoulder. Or, sometimes held in my left arm under his belly and chest so that he could put his paws on the forearm of my right arm and be carried like he was on a cushioned pillow.

He was a slow eater and loved a little bit of fish if we were having it for dinner. It was as if he savored every bite which was unlike his brothers who scarfed their food down. Maybe that's why as he got older he maintained his leanness. He loved to have an open window and would sometimes beg for the window to be open even in the middle of winter. He would sit with his paws on the window sill, look out surveying the 'hood and sniff the air. Only one time did he sneak out the front door - I heard meowing in the middle of the night that sounded like it was coming from outside but didn't think anything of it until I went to the front door and there he was waiting to come inside. Never again did he go close to the front door. As for the back door… well every once in a while, his dad would let him roll in the grass or sit on the cool concrete for a few minutes when he and Musey conspired to make a run for it or push open the screen. It would not last long because then he would scamper back inside. He was an indoor cat now and he was just fine with that. That isn't to say that he would not sit at the back sliding door crying and beg Julian to open it. And then when we did he just sniffed the air.

I was determined to teach him that getting loving was okay. At the beginning, when he would inch closer I would put him on my chest, hold him there and give him loving. He would literally disassociate. He could only take it for about 10 seconds. But slowly he gave in and each night would have his bedtime ritual of sitting on his mum's chest for minutes after minutes of purrs, treadles, kisses, and loving. He got into the habit of perching himself on the footboard of the bed meowing at me while I was getting ready for bed to tell me to hurry up. Afterwards he would sit on the pillow and we would read the news together or read email before tucking in for the night or even sometimes in the middle of the night when mom could not sleep. Sometimes he would stay and treadle in my hair or sleep with his head tucked into my neck, on my chest, or against my head. He was always ready to give his mum a lovely quiet and measured purr. He would give me kisses on my forehead and the edge of my eyebrow. Even when he moved from the pillow, he stayed close by us either on the bed or under the bed.

He was always protective of me even when we were working through his trust issues. He would follow me around, always a titch behind me ready to pounce on whatever he perceived as a threat. He almost went through a screen to get to a stray cat that showed up in the yard that he thought was coming at me when I opened the window. Whatever his past, he made sure protecting me was his job.

No matter my initial concerns about the two of us connecting, he became a mama's boy. He would love to curl up long ways along my leg and wrap himself around my arm when I was reading or watching a movie. He particularly enjoyed it if mum gave him a belly rub at the same time. He would purr and then next thing he would be snoozing. But that was only something mum could do. He loved J and they had their moments but as J would tell me - in ZZ's book daddy's lovin' is okay; mummy's is the best.

He had a few select toys - ducky who had to be moved to the shelf because Sirius tried to chew on him, and his plain old grey mouse that would routinely end up on the bed. He would cry and walk around with mouse or ducky (before forced retirement) and tell us all about how his day was going. He had a million other toys but those two - they were the best. Another favorite was his scratching boxes even though he didn't have front claws.

He loved sitting under the Christmas tree and would prefer to eat his dinner there during the holidays. He loved a snooze in the sunshine in my craft room but would then move to one of the empty cubby shelves so he had it all to himself. And, sometimes his felt kitten cave was good too. But when the fireplace was turned on - well that was rather lovely!

Our lovely boy was given a clean bill of health over the summer but shortly thereafter he developed a cancer tumor in the armpit area of his right front leg in July, 2025. He made it through surgery with our local vet with flying colors and we were told that the tumor may or may not come back. There was no timeline for when it would come back if it did. He had his surgery as we were also having to say goodbye to our little boy Hermes.

We remained hopeful that we'd have many more years with Zephy. McZ was doing well but when we came back from England in September a new tumor appeared close to where the first one had been. The vet at the Colorado State University Vet School told us that McZ was a good candidate for a second surgery and so McZ did it again. He made it through surgery and was given a guarded outlook because of the type of cancer. By late November, a third tumor appeared but this time toward the top of his shoulder. He was a trooper during the multiple 2 hour one-way trips to/from Fort Collins.

There was nothing we could do - although he was a fighter he would not be able to sustain a third surgery and there was no guarantee that it would not be a continued vicious cycle of more tumors coming back each more aggressive than the previous one. Plus, the times of anesthesia had started to affect his kidneys because for some reason we still can't figure out how to make an anesthesia that isn't so hard on cats. The vets and vet techs at the university loved McZ and thought he was one of the kindest and gentlest ginger cats. Our little boy continued to fight on… but we knew that his battle would end much sooner than we wanted.

We knew that today would come but knowing that did not make it any easier. For a while he did okay but the tumor continued to grow. Sometimes it seemed it doubled in size overnight. His newborn/0-3 month baby shirts that we bought to protect his incisions were now being used to protect him from scratching at the tumor. They barely stayed on him but in the end even those were starting to get too tight because of the size of the tumor. The tumor moved back down and was going around his leg and toward the front of his chest and he looked like a football player with pads only on one side. He became slower, less talkative but still wanted loving and to curl up. His purrs were fewer and his bright beautiful green eyes started to weep. He lost a lot of weight with the tumor probably weighing more than he did. He was struggling this past week and the tumor started to affect his balance. Sadly, we had to make the decision that it was time to say our goodbyes. Not because we wanted to. If we could, we would hold him and love him forever but we needed to do the right thing for him.

This morning he curled up in the sunshine and took in some fresh air sniffs in the open window. He got cuddles, treadles, purrs, belly rubs, and kisses. He had a bit of tilapia with his dinner yesterday evening, and cuddles and treadles with his mum at bedtime. He got a good nuzzle with ducky and mouse. Sirius gave him a sniff this morning before heading off to daycare.

It's the hardest thing to say goodbye and hard to know when to make that decision. He was a lovely little "rescue" who took a chance on us. He could have bolted and gone back to living a life on the streets, but he didn't. He stayed. He trusted us. He loved us (even though he still hated the sound of a plastic bag). He was our street cred ginger. He outwardly showed the scars of how awful people can be but he also showed through his love, trust, and protectiveness that he did not have to be defined by those scars. Thank you, Zephy, for trusting us and letting us love you, care for you, and keep you warm.

Zephyrus was named for the gentle west wind/spring wind that is soft and mild. It was a name that fit him well. Underneath what looked like a battle-worn exterior, he was gentle and kind. He was quiet and full of love for those he trusted. He had street cred. He was a handsome ginger who quietly but courageously braved each of his battles.

Ride the warm winds my darling Zephyrus. We love you and will miss you dearly.