Eat in Peace, Toro

Our cat Toro has been battling with lymphoma over the past month. We had last saw the vet on Thursday and although Toro has not been himself, we made the plan to put him down sometime after the weekend if he was not doing better. The vet said he was not suffering and I figured we would take the weekend to say goodbye.

Unfortunately, Sophia called me last night when she got home from work and said Toro was not doing well. I canceled our dinner plans and rushed home. I knew right away that it was time.

This was the first time in my life that I’ve had to put a pet to sleep. It happened so quick. I hardly had time to process all my emotions. I felt happiness for the years we had, sadness for the thought that he was not going to be around, and of course relief that he was headed to a better place.

I’ve had a lot of time to reflect on our life the past 7.5 years together. I adopted Toro one weekend on an impromptu visit to the Seattle Humane society. It was a silly college decision made without too much thought but ended up being one of the decisions I made.

I have never been a cat person. I had always thought I would get a dog soon after college, but the appeal of a lower maintenance pet was appealing. I suppose it’s true that the best things in life are unexpected.

Toro was everything I was looking for. He was a dog-like cat that quite possibly might be the most affectionate animal I have ever met.

We had striking similarities including our love for food. I shared many meals with Toro and his favorite meal was Costco rotisserie chicken.

I learned a lot from Toro. I learned what it meant to care for someone else besides myself. I learned patience and gained fatherly instincts. I learned that sometimes it’s okay to just sit all day and do nothing.

I’m going to miss him a lot. I adopted him when I was 22 so you can say we grew up together. He was around for some of my highest highs and some of my lowest lows. You could always count on him for a cuddle at the end of a long day.

The vet asked if I wanted to keep his ashes and I surprisingly said yes. I was initially against keeping my pet’s ashes, but I realized that I wanted his legacy to live on. He’s had such a big impact on my life, and I wanted to make sure that I never forgot him.

Eat in Peace, Toro. I hope the Costco rotisserie chicken buffet is as good as we had hoped.