Tute

Tute was an wonderful cat that we had for 17 years. Originally Tute belonged to a friend of Julie and mine from work but for some reason she could keep him and was looking for a home for him. It turned out that Julie's sister Louise took him and had him for a year or so when she also couldn't keep him. Well Bullet had just died so we too Tute in.

It was Louise who gave him his name for he was solid white and reminded her of a common recreational drug that is white. I think she actually called him Toot but I always spelled it Tute. I always thought of Tute as Kathleen reincarnated for he look and seemed so much like Kathleen.

Tute laying on the sidewalk. (no he's not dead)

Tute was a indoor-outdoor cat which in some ways is nice because you don't have to have a litter box. On the other hand sometimes he would disappear for several days and Julie would always get really upset for Tute was her "precious".

When we lived in Florida fleas were always a constant problem and we would have to give Tute a bath about once a week. He would complain but he got so that he didn't mind it too much and afterwards he would be so very soft and white that you just wanted to pick him up and hold him.

Tute laying on the deck.
 (no he's not dead)

For many years Tute would sleep at night curled up between Julie and my pillows. He was a wonderful cat. Sometime in the last few years he had kidney failure and we had to put him on a special diet and then later, once a week give him subcutaneous fluids. In the end he got worse and in the last week he went blind. It was so very sad for he couldn't find his way around and he want to be next to someone all the time.

Finally in 1997 he became too weak to move around so Anne, being a Veterinarian , brought home the injection to put him to sleep and Julie, Anne and I all gathered around him and comforted him as he passed away. We all were in tears as I am now as I write this. I had never been so sad in all my life. We buried Tute out back and the next year I planted a flower garden over his gravesite and each spring when the cherry tree blooms I think of Tute.