February 2008 - June 30, 2020

Coltan came into our family in February of 2008. He came from the Humane Society shelter. These four pictures, taken on the afternoon he came into our family, tell quite a bit about his personality; Andy picked him out based on his winning personality. He was a nuzzler -- he'd want to rub his nose and forehead on your face, which was quite endearing. It was kind of annoying when he'd want to bite your nose and chin when he slept with you, but it was just a quirk with which one had to deal (!).

In the last month, after being fairly healthy for a 12 year old kitty, Coltan developed some kind of nerve issue and lost the use of his left front leg. In the past few days he began chewing on that leg and lost the use of the other front leg. We started him on a liquid steroid and he made it very clear he wasn’t going to put up with it. I think this was the only time in his life we ever had to give him medicine. He would hide and when I would find him he would express his displeasure, by peeing. He was still eating and drinking and a good weight, but had to be carried around recently since he lost the use of the other front leg. He was unable to get to the litter box unless Hugh carried him.

Hugh slept with him in the basement last night. Yesterday, we made a vet appointment to evaluate him at 1 pm this afternoon. They called this morning to move the appointment up to 11 am so he could see his usual doctor. His prognosis did not look good to me without the use of his front legs, one which was pretty mangled. He could not use the litterbox on his own. Best case scenario in my mind is he would lose both front legs and no longer be mobile and might not even survive surgery if that became an option. I was afraid we were going to be faced with a difficult decision at the vet.

This morning we left him in the unfinished room in the basement with food, water and on a sleeping pad. We went home at 10:30 to take him to his appointment. Sadly, we found him a few feet away, not moving and he looked pretty wet. We suspect MilesDog went to the unfinished area to poop as he sometimes has been doing recently and whatever exactly transpired from that point is unknown. However, we were no longer facing a difficult decision at the vet and most likely in shock but forced to accept whatever had happened between 7:30 and 10:30 am. Most likely, Colt did not take kindly to him in the basement and was unable to escape. We’ll never know for sure but can only assume what might have happened based on the evidence.  The outcome today or soon would have likely been the same.

Coltan Patrick Emerson came into our family along with Mason in February of 2008 from the Central Missouri Humane Society. We adopted him on the same day as Mason who passed in December of 2018. He was part of the pack of 4 cats that included Mason (RIP-12-2018), Nisa (RIP-09-2019) and Maddie (living) and also Bruno (RIP-11-2012) and Rusty (RIP-07-2013). Then currently dogs in 2012, Abby and 2013, Miles.  He was pretty much a one-person cat and loved cuddling most with Hugh. Hugh went downstairs, away from dogs, to sleep with him in the spare bedroom many times as our current dogs do not allow cats in the bedroom. My relationship with him was broken from one too many claw trims but he would occasionally show me some love. He was very angry with me giving him the steroids over the past few weeks. We made the decision to stop a week ago as they seemed to be doing more harm for his quality of life than good by making him very upset and going into hiding. I think we were on a little better terms after I stopped the steroids and Hugh brought him upstairs to his perch where I could safely pet him. However, this was likely also a sign he wasn’t doing well.

He loved his mouse toys and often would cry out at night when playing with them. When he peed under the couch a couple days ago, we moved it and found his favorite toy mouse that had been missing. He could go from sounding cranky to purring in a matter of minutes. He didn’t put up with dogs, nail trims or forced medication. He liked sitting high on his perch in the living room, observing everything that went on around him and safe from the dogs. We are definitely going to miss him.