Oliver, pt 2

It's been very hard to talk about Oliver's sudden death.  A lot of people have been curious about what happened and today mom decided it was time to talk about it and to share what happened.  She wrote the following and posted it on facebook:

I would like to thank all the people who showed interest and compassion in the recent death of Oliver. All the nice words, the texts and just acknowledging his death means more than words can express. Everyone who knew him loved him so. He was so sweet and incredibly loving. Several have asked and more have wondered what happened to Oliver last Tuesday (Dec 30, 2014). I apologize for the delay in answering this question, but the suddenness and disbelief is overwhelming. 

Last Tuesday afternoon Jamie and Oliver were sitting on the couch together like a hundred other times, nothing special about that day and nothing much different from every other day.  Oliver got up, jumped off the couch, fell on his left size and seized. Jamie screamed his name and I ran into the room to find him on the floor. I reached into his mouth and felt nothing in his throat blocking his air. He seized two more time. His eyes were moving slightly but he was limp when I picked him up. We ran to the car and Tom drove us the closest vet.  Jamie breathed two breaths of air into his mouth. As we approached they saw us, met us in the lobby and took Oliver. They asked us to wait in a room. When the vet came in she said he had passed.  She also said she could not find any evidence of stress, trauma or toxins. She suggested he either had a blockage or a blood clot. 

At the vet everyone was kind and very supportive.  I know by the look in their eyes they were also hurting.

Tommy and Shannon hopped a red eye and were here early the next morning. 

The outpouring of love and support is tremendous and greatly appreciated. 

“If love alone could have kept him here, he would have lived forever.”

Thank you all for caring. <3

Oliver always brought a smile to my face, he had so many odd little quirks.  I really still have a hard time believing that he is gone, and will occasionally swear I hear his collar, his footsteps, his mew, and his little feet around the house.   Life in this house will never be the same without him.

In my family, we don't have pets.  We have family members, and this is just as devastating to us as a loss of a human.  He was my little (annoying, stinky) fluffy brother.  I will miss his tremediously.

Below in the pictures is the story of how Oliver came about.  We let mom name Oliver, but she wanted help from Tommy and I.  When I met Oliver in the humane society, I instantly thought of the Disney movie Oliver & Company and started singing the "You and Me Together" song to him.  After telling mom, the name Oliver stuck.

I have so many pictures of Oliver, but these are my absolute favorite.

Stealing Church's Princess Pillow

My absolute favorite of Church and Oliver together, hugging each other in their sleep.

Oliver and Evil.

This llama means a lot, it was the llama my papaw was holding when he passed away.

Snuggle time with mom, every night, you could always find them snuggling together.

Aaron's first visit with Sabrina, about Oct 2013.  They bought a book of cat hats and put them to excellent use.

Smart.

Lookit those beautiful eyes

Petting cats with the hammer of Thor.

One of my absolute favorites of Tommy and Oliver.  How to hold a cat.  (He loved when Tommy did silly stuff like this.)

I remember this picture, I was going through some very bad days and Oliver took over Church's cat  nursing post to sleep with me.

He loved to watch Frank.

More cat-nursing with some of my first IVs in 2012.

His favorite spot, on the back of the couch looking out the window.  This is where he was hanging out with me right before he passed away.

I'd wake up at 4am and come out into the kitchen to get a drink to find Oliver sleeping in the chair he KNEW he wasn't allowed in.

"Oh, hey, is that Jason?"

This picture is so adorable.

The first picture ever taken of Oliver.  Tommy had moved to Amsterdam and we had had Evil staying with us until he went over seas, mom was sad that there wouldn't be a cat in the house.  I went to the humane society to find mom a kitten to surprise her with Christmas.  There was a new liter of kittens, about 4 or 5 of them.  I sat down on the floor to meet them all, and immediately Oliver crawled into my lap, started purring and fell asleep.  I instantly knew he was the sweetest, and wanted to take him home (even though we agreed we were just looking for a kitten, wasn't going to get one yet.)  Oliver came home with me that day, and stayed a couple weeks at my then boyfriend's house until Christmas day when we surprised mom, in 2005.

This picture of Oliver is so sweet. Taken after redoing the downstairs room.