Z Blog

Ivan

Almost exactly 12 years ago mom gave me and Jen a tiny, cute, little kitten. It didn't take long to realize he liked eating human flesh so he was given the name Ivan as in Ivan the Terrible.

Ivan grew up to be a very large cat, probably part Maine Coon and eventually bonded with me and allowed me to pet him, although anyone else still risked losing large chunks of skin if they got too close. Taking him to the vet was always an experience. He either had to be held by someone with thick leather falconry type gloves, which usually proved to not offer as much protection as you might think, or he had to be given something to put him to sleep. First the vets tried injecting him but after many broken needles decided dumping him in a tank and gassing him was the safest method. (I'm not kidding) Even when heavily sedated you have never seen an animal fight it like Ivan. There were times they had to given him so much that he couldn't even walk for 12 hours afterwards but they said he was still fighting it the whole time.

Ivan mellowed a bit as he got older and for the last few years has allowed people he was familiar with to pet him. Even Ian could pet him, as long as he was gentle. He spent most of his time in the basement, even though he had a door he could use to get upstairs, he didn't like the dogs so he stayed downstairs. He would usually come out when we were doing laundry and rub against our legs and want to be petted.

Ivan died on Saturday, he was the first pet Jen and I had as a couple and he will be missed.

-Brian

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