It really seems as if he was an Angel. I found him on a dark street corner in a dangerous area. He wasnt really that timid at all... only at first. He was sniffing some garbage cans. We took him home in a box we found. In the hall I picked him up... he was light as a feather and for some reason he smelled good, like shampoo. I thought maybe he was only lost recently, but his paws were calloused, he was thin and his eyes were running. I asked around the neighborhood but no one had lost a cat. I kept him in the bathroom away from my guys until he was tested and his cold cleared up. When I visited him he was all over me, rolling around on my lap, tapping my toothbrush while I brushed, purring LOUD the whole time.

Then I put him in the front room with Monty. They became buds and he really got Monty out of his shell. They wrestled and slept together. At first Monty, being a feral kitten, swiped and hissed... but Herbie just loved him and rubbed his face on him and Monty gave in.

When their colds were gone they began excusions out into my apt with my 7 cats. To my cats astonishment and shock Herb ran right up to them and rubbed his face on them and touched noses. It was hilarious watching him with my one girl, Cosette, who is a bit of a crab. When she hit him he rolled on his side and smiled at her. She looked me like, who IS this guy?! At night I put moisturizer on my hands and he insisted on licking it all off. His favorite chair was a blue fold out with a towel on it he shared with Monty. I could always just pick him up, kiss him and smush him, and he loved it. He never lost that shampoo-ey smell... except maybe when he was just coming from the litterbox. He hadn't just had a bath when I found him - it was just his smell. He loved everyone, even the Vet. I kept telling him, isn't he a great cat? Look at his yellow green eyes, look at his silver paws, isn't he beautiful? The Vet agreed. The picture above is called 'Herbie loves Monty', its blurry becuse I couldn't get Herb to stop licking him! It's in their favorite chair.

When he passed away I was in complete shock. He was supposed to just be fixed, but he had this soft lump and I was worried he had a hernia... as another kitten I rescued last year had the same thing. My Vet said it was an umbilical hernia and he could stitch it up and fix him too... he's a good Vet, he even gave me a break on the bill. It was supposed to be routine. They said to come back later in the day. We walked around and picked up some odds and ends we needed. I've done the same thing before with my other cats, then went back to pick them up and I'd tell them I knew they would be OK. Even when I got back, they said he was fine and had been walking around. I then opened the carrier and he appeared unconcious... I looked at the Vet who immediately grabbed him and went back to the operating table to revive him. He put him on oxygen and gave him CPR, he wouldn't come back. He tried for 10 minutes. I begged him to get him back for me. It took me an hour before I could let anyone take him from my arms. I can't stop crying. He says he had a reaction to the anethstesia... he had only seen it once before in all his years of practice. I want to blame myself for having so much confidence he would be OK. Of course the Vet says we couldn't have known it would happen. He says he gave him very little of the drug because of his size. I do trust him... he was so sorry and is paying to have Herbie cremated, he was so upset too. But how did he die AFTER he was up and about? Was it because they put him in the carrier? Should he have been moving around?

This is one of the most special cats I have ever known. I know they're all special... but this cat loved everyone.... all my cats, every person he met. He was scared on the way to the Vet, but that didn't stop him from purring the whole way. I held him like a baby while the Vet checked his tummy for the lump. He loved unconditionally, and he almost always purred. How could this happen? Could I have prevented this? My husband and I are heartbroken and I can't even believe he is gone. This wasn't supposed to happen. He was sick these past few days. He wouldn't eat, sometimes he threw up. The Vet says this may have been caused by the hernia, or he had eaten something that didn't agree with him. He didn't die in surgery from anything like that. He was awake and walking around! I do think the hernia was hurting him. It had to be sewn up. How could he be OK and then die so quickly? He was still warm. I would give almost anything to go back to that morning and not bring him in... he would still be here with his little pink tongue sticking out occasionally, with his kitty smile, his purring and his silvery grey coat, flopping like a ragdoll when I picked him up. I am crushed.


The first is my favorite picture of Herbie. This expression on his face says it all. He always purred, flopped like a ragdoll in my arms, licked my fingers, loved all my cats at first sight and every human he met. We always joked that he was always saying - (imagine a really dopey sweet voice) - "Will you be my friend?" He gave me 2 wonderful, terribly short months of his life - he was not quite a year old. This is Herbie the Love Bug.