In Memory of Bellini and his brothers

Our feelings and memories about Bellini are in context with his brothers who pre-deceased him.  We had fifteen years with all three of them together and almost nineteen years with Bellini. 
The story we have told frequently is that we went to the mall near our home in Norfolk to purchase a new cordless phone. Two months before, we had lost our cat Bathsheba, a tiny six pound cat who was with us from two months after our marriage until February 1995. En route to the phone store, we walked past the store where we had bought Bathsheba and made the mistake of looking in. Asti caught my eye and screamed at me, "Take me home!" We went in and he was in a cage with his litter mates. We spoke together and agreed that we would think on it over night.
I had never liked leaving Bathsheba alone when we went on trips so was pretty determined to have two cats the next time. The question was, which two? The pet store personnel let us put Asti a little play area and we picked out Campari (of course, they didn't have names yet) and he was very playful and adorable. We thought these were our two cats. When we were at the cash register, we could hear the third (Bellini), crying and crying. Greg was unable to speak because it was so pitiful to hear this. I approached him and said, "You realize we're going to have three cats, don't you?"
Their names were happily serendipitous:

1. They were alphabetical
2. They were Italian and
3. They were named after Italian drinks:
• Asti was all white (Asti Spumanti)
• Bellini was a peachy color (the apertive of prosecco and peach nectar)
• Campari was a darker red, as in another apertivo

Another aspect of their story that made them so entwined with our lives is the life changes they went through with us. I went to Ohio State in August of 1996 and the cats went with me. Greg was commuting back and forth and they were wonderful company while I was in grad school. I can still hear them scrambling up and down the stairs, racing and chasing. When we moved to Columbia for me to take the job at USC, they rode in the back seat of my Jetta, down I-77 while Greg was driving a truck and towing his car in front of us. 

When we bought our house in Columbia (1998), we added a sun porch for us and for the cats. 

Our daughter was newly out of school when we adopted them and is now a mother of three.

All three of our granddaughters (Jordan, Ashley and Julia) have known each of the three cats. 

When we moved my mom to Columbia (after her diagnosis with dementia), she enjoyed the cats when she was at our house. Of course, they were all called "cat." 

Campari was diagnosed with severe anemia in December 2009 and passed away in February 2010. We were in California at the ASTA conference and our dear friend Marilyn (aka "the cat whisperer") was the one with him. Asti had been getting cortisone shots for nose bleeds for some time and Greg took him in every two or three weeks until May 2011. Asti stopped eating and we had him put to rest. Bellini had such anxiety afterwards he had to have kitty prozac for a couple of weeks. We didn't like how lethargic it made him so we took him off after a couple of weeks and he was fine. 

Last May, about three weeks before a long planned family trip (with our daughter, son-in-law and three granddaughters), Bellini was diagnosed with a large tumor in his chest. We were both distraught because we were so afraid that he would die while we were gone. We asked the Divine Ms. M (Marilyn) what her thoughts were and she indicated that she was willing to perform kitty hospice if necessary. Each day, she sent us updates morning and evening via Facebook messenger. It was a great comfort. 

When we returned home, Bellini was thinner but still himself. He continued being engaged with life, eating well and wanting to go outside until this past week. There were signs of deterioration, stiffness in his legs, not wanting to be cuddled and recently, yowling in the night, a sign of kitty dementia. I left for Chicago on December 18 and continued to get good reports but on December 20, he stopped eating and moving very much. I spoke to him on the phone from O'Hare and Greg said he ate a bit after that. When I got home, he looked very pitiful. I nestled him next to my robe (which he always loved being held against) in his spot in the living room. He somehow made it to our bedroom during the night. The next day, he couldn't take more than a few steps without falling (and then crying). It was heartbreaking. We called our vet and asked if she could euthanize him in our home (we couldn't bear taking him to the clinic or emergency vet) and we are so grateful that she was able to. 

Here is a 4 minute story of our three boys. Thanks to anyone who took the time to read this and then watch the video. We hope it demonstrates that our pets were well loved and loved us in return. 

http://youtu.be/zT6tRRai23g