Bandit [a.k.a. Bitty Bandit, 'Tinky Wonder Butt, Mr. Butt]

A highly intelligent street urchin who picked me up at the Post Office in the Fall of the year I lost Sugarfoot. He's a mixed breed: he's part cat, part dog, and part monkey.
 
Bandit had been living on the street, eating out of trash cans and scavanging what food he could find. He was sick and had a worms. I picked him up and took him to my car. I think he realized he'd bagged himself a more responsible human than his previous people. He was purring and rubbing himself all over me. As soon as we were in the car Bandit passed gas. A very foul fart. I opened a window and said, "Hooey! You're a stinky butt little cat, aren't you?"
 
Well, the vet treated him for worms and disease, and I put him on a high-quality cat food diet. His insides cleaned up quickly and he never was, literally speaking, a stinky butt little cat again. But, the name stuck. He's still my 'Tinky Wonder Butt, cause he's a wonderful little 'Tinky Butt. That's the story of his nickname.
 
Bandit's favorite game is fetch. He likes for me to throw a toy down the hall into another room so he can run after it and bring it back to me. Then he'll stand ready to run after it again and he'll be happy to play this game for hours.
 
Bandit and Timmy often don't get along very well. I imagine it's some kind of Alpha cat thing. Timmy is much bigger and stronger than Bandit, but Bandit is the more agressive of the two. Timmy could shred Bandit if he'd just stand up to him, but Bandit always comes out on top. I don't like them fighting and do what I can to discourage it.
 
[14/Sep/00]Since Joey's death, Bandit has moved into Joey's spot on the bed and he's demanding more of my attention. He's also playing games that he hasn't shown an interest in since he was a year or two old. He seems like a self-appointed cheerer-upper cat.

[01/Mar/02] At approximately 10 minutes after 4:00 p.m., Bandit started crying out. I went to him and found him lying with his rear legs apparently paralyzed and he was obviously in terrible pain. I put on my shoes and grabbed a jacket and rushed him out to the car to take him to the vet. I drove like a maniac to the nearest vet (not my usual vet -- that would have been much too long a drive) and they were closed already. So, I turned around and headed to the second nearest clinic... but Bandit died about a minute before I got there. Just before 4:30.
 
His last minutes were spent in terrible agony. The vet theorized that a blood clot blocked the arteries to his lower body and that half of his body died from oxygen deprivation. They said there's not much that can be done at that point. They wouldn't have been able to do anything but euthenize him. It is, I am told, a very painful death.
 
I've never in my life ever seen a cat suffer so much. I don't think I'll ever get the sound of his screams out of my mind, nor the sight of him thrashing and writhing in agony. I wanted so desperately to help him, and I couldn't.