Calvin: July 9, 2008 - February 18, 2025

Calvin passed away on February 18, 2025 after medically crashing post-vet visit that he was unable to recover from. He was in shock and his body was shutting down. It was similar to Susie's passing in her hours leading up to her death and we did not want him to experience that. While our vet stabilized him, he was in pain. Chris and I made the decision to end his suffering tearfully.

He was a great cat - the best cat in my opinion. Chris and I went to the pet store after dinner July 9, 2008. Chris had just moved to Columbia a few months prior and I was staying with him for the summer before going back to finish my last semester at Penn State. We had no intention of getting a cat but we saw a group of kittens and Chris picked out 8-week old Calvin. We both had cats growing up but he was our first cat together.

He had numerous nicknames over the years. Calv, Calv Boy, POB (purring orange boy), GOB (good orange boy), the Inspector, Mr. Handsome, Brud - just to name a few. We would tell him he had the paws of a tiger or lion and commend him for his strong grip. His bigger than average ears were our favorite feature. He slept up against me every single night in some form, whether that was in his blankets at my feet or on my pillow. As he aged, he spent more time on my desk. He would jump up through a couple levels of furniture to nap in a box on my desk. He had a rotation of boxes he enjoyed. In the colder months, he would frequent sleeping underneath the bedsheet. In the spring and early summer, he loved napping in the late afternoon sun. His purr was so loud at times we joked it sounded like a motor. Calvin and I had a special, unique bond - I was his human and favorite thing in the world. When I would leave, Chris would note he would sit and cry at the door waiting for me to come back. He was skittish of strangers. While he got along with Rocc and Susie well enough, he did not like the smell of other cats.

Around April 2024, he started losing weight and with an ultrasound in June, he had a large liver mass and intestinal thickening. We opted for palliative care if it came to it with his age. He was seeing a cardiologist for several months due to hypertrophic cardiomyopathy and managing well with his asthma, which he took great and never complained about his inhaler. In July he injured his knee and he needed to be conservative about jumping. We made him makeshift stairs to access the bed. He loved them so much that eventually he wouldn't get off the bed without walking down them. He continued to lose weight and developed borderline high blood pressure. We tried Semintra but it was negatively affecting his liver and quality of life. He bounced back afterwards until mid-December when he began to have falling issues. We took him to the ER several times but he would be fine by the time he got to triage. It was suspected he may have had minor strokes. He had several more episodes which seemed like he woke up with a limb asleep. He unfortunately had an episode the week before we put him to sleep, which was slightly more concerning than the prior ones. He also went deaf in mid-2024. It was saddening to know he would not hear our voices again. We do believe all this played into his end of life. We love him and while severely saddened that we had to put him down, we understand that his quality of life may have been miserable if he recovered. RIP to Calvin, the best cat in the world. I spent nearly every second of his life with him and I wouldn't trade that for anything. He was a very special cat.