Saying goodbye to the life of Riley.

Riley aka Mr. O’Riley 1998-2014

My beautiful cat, Riley, passed away peacefully on January 1, 2014. He wound down slowly all last year and passed away surrounded by love and his favorite people. He loved the outdoors, so we placed him in the earth in a beautiful spot. [Special thank you to Darcy for being there with us!]

Riley: A Short Biography of my Cat by Julian Bowers:

1998: Born. Moved in with us. Kept me up all night with his meowing. We locked him into the bathroom yet he smeared his poo all over the walls. Nightmare kitten.

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1999-2003: If there was a closed door, he would try his best to tear it down and annoy us, and it usually worked. He was an outdoor cat and he hunted things I didn’t think were possible to catch around our property. Voles, hummingbirds, bats, snakes, squirrels, every type of small bird you can think of. He was frustrating, but could be affectionate when you wanted it.

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2003-2013: We moved to the city, so he had to transition to become an indoor cat. He had some aggression towards the concept initially, but he mellowed out over the years. Still annoying about doors, but a sweet cat.

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2013-2014: Started to get skinnier but still healthy up until Dec. 26th when his legs started giving out. He started to slowly wind down. We gave him Fancy Feast and he was still affectionate yet understandably tired. On Jan. 1st, he couldn’t walk anymore and we moved him to a cozy spot. At around 5:45pm, he passed away.

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I’m going to miss him, but I can take solace in the fact that he lived a good, happy life and he went out as comfortably as one can.