This is a memorial page to our beautiful cat, Boomer.

Jag’s Cat

I remember the first time I saw Boomer. Margy and I were looking for a cat for Jag. Only a year old at the time, Jag was very rambunctious and tearing our furniture to pieces. We needed a companion to distract him.

Margy heard about a litter of kittens that needed a home. The mother and all but two of the kittens had been adopted. The remaining kittens were a brother and sister.

The lady who was taking care of them intended to give us the sister and keep the brother. The female kitten was a little queen– a smoky black shorthair who displayed grace and elegance.

Her brother was quite different. A tiny orange and white longhair tabby, he was scrawny, big-eared, and a rat-tailed ball of energy. I noticed that he initiated all of the play with his sister. A player was what we needed.

Besides, he was just adorable.

“We need to take the male,” I told Margy. “This is the cat for Jag.”

So we brought him home.

Like a Sonic Boom

We were trying to come up with a new name for our orange and white tabby. As you can see, his ears were ridiculously huge compared to his tiny head. This prompted Margy to say, “With ears like that, everything must sound like a sonic boom.”

Indeed. Boomer was the perfect name for this little ball of fire. Here’s a picture of him at play:

It wasn’t the smoothest transition for our new little kitten. Boomer was terrified of us and his new home. It didn’t help that we had to take him to the vet for a flea bath the next day. It took about a day for Boomer to calm down and stop shaking.

So we were very worried about how Boomer would react to Jag and vice-versa. Boomer was teeny-tiny small and Jag outweighed him by about a factor of six.

Sure enough, when we let Jag into the room, there was a lot of staring down between Jag and this little upstart. Jag hissed his disapproval.

To our astonishment, little Boomer hissed back.

Jag then reached out his paw and touched Boomer on his forehead, an aggressive move. Once. Twice.

Boomer just stared back and thought about it for a moment.

Then Boomer slashed out at Jag!

Even though Boomer didn’t connect, Jag jumped about a foot into the air and raced out of the room like a scared little kid. We died laughing. The little guy might be afraid of everything else, but not Jag.

Best Buds

After that rocky start, Jag quickly realized that this little thing was not a rival but a rather a fun new toy. Jag became a big brother to Boomer, playing with him, grooming him, and at times curling up with him. It was very sweet.

Not that there were never any more conflicts. Despite being much smaller than Jag, Boomer had a reckless optimism that one day he would become the alpha cat. He occasionally stalked Jag, creeping up on him in an attack posture. Jag usually calmly waited for Boomer to pounce. Jag would lie still except for his tail swishing back and forth. When Boomer finally pounced, Jag demonstrated the imbalance between a 12 lb. cat and a 16 lb. cat. After a few seconds of caterwauling, Boomer would run at full tilt away from Jag, crying pitifully as if it Jag started it! A few minutes later, all was forgiven and forgotten.

Eventually, Boomer did accept us, but remained terrified of everyone else. Boomer never willingly allowed anyone other than Margy, Jag, or me anywhere near him.

Our China Doll Cat

I honestly had little hope that this goofy-looking kitten would amount to much in the looks department. Which shows how much I know. Margy was confident that he would blossom into a beautiful cat.

And that he did. He didn’t grow to be very big, topping out at 12 lbs., but his fur grew out into a long luxurious coat.

One of our vets referred to him as “a China doll cat.” Sure enough.

The Odd Couple

“The Boys” as we liked to call them, couldn’t have had more different personalities. Jag was a super-affectionate lap cat while Boomer rarely wanted to be handled or picked up.

Even though he wasn’t thrilled about it, Jag was easy to get into a carrier. Getting Boomer into a carrier was an Olympic sport. That little ninja could run, hide, and struggle like you wouldn’t believe.

They were very much a feline version of “The Odd Couple” — think of Jag as Oscar and Boomer as Felix. Jag kind of lumbered around when he walked. Boomer pranced around on tiptoe, bushy tail held high and mighty.

But just like Oscar and Felix, they loved hanging out together.

Here’s a little animated gif I made of them a few years ago called “Jag and Boomer Get Busy.”

Last Picture

Back in 2006, Boomer miraculously recovered from emergency surgery and lymphoma. The vet predicted he would be gone by Thanksgiving of 2006. Beating all expectations, he survived. After a lengthy recovery, he regained most of his energy and verve and gave us four more years of joy.

Over his last month, Boomer started having problems with a lack of appetite. Still thin after his previous ordeal, he began a downhill slide.

A specialist confirmed that his cancer had returned. Given his circumstances, our vet agreed it was time to say goodbye to Boomer. So on Nov. 11, 2010, we let him go.

This is the last picture I got of Boomer a few minutes before we took him to the vet for the last time. As heartbreakingly beautiful as he looks, his fur is covering up a dreadfully thin body. He was moving around very slowly and was definitely in pain.

I want to remember him as a prince of a cat to the very end.

Boomer brought us joy and beauty. He taught us patience and resilience. And he was with us for far too short a time.

Sleep well, my friend. You earned your rest.

Beautiful Boomer — Our China Doll Cat – 1998-2010