Alexander came to Forgotten Felines and Fidos (FFF) beat up, skinny and with more battle wounds than you could ever imagine.
After being nursed back to health and when brought to his first Kitten Kaper appearance, he proudly wore his red, white and blue bandanna and strutted his stuff hoping to catch the eye of an interested adopter. After a couple of Saturdays he began thinking because of his appearance he was not very desirable to the adopters. He spent many Saturdays at the Kitten Kapers but no one ever wanted to adopt him but on December 25, 1998 to his amazement his life was about to change.
Sue "the FFF caretaker" approached us "Stephanie and Wanda" about taking this old beat up cat home with us but we had to think about it. So on Christmas Day after a family discussion it was agreed that Alexander was getting a home for Christmas. We brought him home and let him out of his carrier, he did a little exploring, met the other cats and from that day forward he was part of our family.
After awhile we notice that he seemed to be having problems with his teeth when eating so we made an appointment with our friendly Vet Dr. Hess where we then found out he had a lot of bad teeth that would have to come out. Little did we know that when he was done having his dental work we found out that most of his teeth were pulled because of his poor condition. Baby food or whatever we could mash was his diet for a while and he began improving.
After a few months passed and receiving so much love from his new family that he never dreamed he could acquire they notice he was having problems with his teeth or gums again so back to Dr. Hess. She decided to run a battery of tests including an F.I.V. test on him and when the test came back our hearts cried to find out he had F.I.V. What to do, what to do. Then we thought why are we asking this dumb question. He's still Alexander, still gives us ALL his love so we just started to give him more love back.
Since we are the chairpersons for the Silent Auction, we decided to make Alexander the official FFF mascot and todouble up on his duties he also became the Photos with Santa Claus mascot. (You may have seen his picture on all our Silent Auction flyers and Christmas flyers "he also had his little Santa Claus outfit on" and other brochures). With his health failing the Christmas of 2000 was the last time he would be Santa's little helper.
The F.I.V. was taking its toll making him to sick to travel and cutting his personal appearances down.He began getting monthly steroid shots, which started to dry out his skin. He began getting sores all over his body but he never stopped living a life of luxury. He had his favorite meal of MASHED POTATOES AND GRAVY that he had served to him on the sofa and he ate every time some one went near the kitchen.
In early August 2001 he had a stroke which caused his head to till to one side and he had a hard time standing up. On Monday August 20, 2001 we made an appointment with his buddy Dr. Hess and she ran some more test. She told us that he had developed a Kidney infection so she gave us some medication and we took him home. On Tuesday he just wanted to be held. I looked into his eyes and I could see it would be the last time I would heard his purr. At 8:00 PM I covered him and told him I loved him and that he was my big mush. On Wednesday August 22, 2001 I got up at 3:00 AM to get ready to go the work and I went over to give Alexander to give him his medication but found that he had passed away in his sleep.
I can only say that with every sickness that our Alexander had if we had to do it all over again we would. He was a SPECIAL NEEDS cat with a heart as BIG as the world. HE WAS THE HAPPIEST CAT UP TO HIS LAST DAY.
double up on his duties he also became the Photos with Santa Claus mascot. (You may have seen his picture on all our Silent Auction flyers and Christmas flyers "he also had his little Santa Claus outfit on" and other brochures). With his health failing the Christmas of 2000 was the last time he would be Santa's little helper.
