Doc Holliday appeared with a dozen or so other kittens at an Agway near Williston 16 years ago. While the other kittens were jumping up and down excitedly, Doc looked at me as if to say “How you doin?”. It didn’t take me long to fill out the adoption paperwork, and a couple of days later, he came home to Milton.
It was my son that suggested his name, and he has truly lived up to the character from Tombstone. A crafty look in his eyes, sometimes comical, but always having my back. He alerted me to a deer passing thru the yard, and a birds nest outside a window. He would curl up in his bed in the kitchen while I cooked, and stretched out on my legs to sleep while I binge watched way too much TV. He greeted visitors to the house, and became tolerant of a new grandson gently touching his fur for the first time and doing some tentative brushing. He went on high alert and spent many a night on watch if an outlaw mouse had worked its way into the house. They did not last long.
The deck beckoned him in both summer and winter and he enjoyed the snow almost as much as the sunshine. He managed to destroy several pieces of furniture, but his antics and warm company more than made up for that.
It was only the past few months that I really started to worry about him, and recent weeks increased my concern. I am ever so grateful that Paws At Home came to my attention and their swift response to me, their kindness to us, and comfort to Doc will long be remembered.
