Yesterday we had to say goodbye to our little boy-cat, Tuscan. He was diagnosed with Mycoplasma haemofelis (formerly Haemobartonella felis), and despite the vet’s efforts, Tuscan succumbed yesterday morning.

Tuscan was friendly with all of our cats, and a buddy to Leila often:

He was a biggie, checking in at 17 lbs, and we usually knew where he was because his purr matched his extra size in extra decibels. 😀

He just showed up a little over 7 1/2 years ago and started hanging out, we took him in, and he’s lived here ever since. 🙂

Here is his introduction video from our original introduction blog post:

The animals have often been inspirations to me for musical melodies, and Tuscan wasn’t any different, and his melody I found some lyrics for, and put together a hymn called “I Long for God, the Living God“:

I Long for God, the Living God

Lastly….please bare with me….the Lord never granted us children. Tuscan though would lay in my lap at times and look at me right in the eyes. It was the closest thing I ever felt to what I imagine would be the feeling of a father looking into his son’s eyes as his son looked up at him. I will miss that. I don’t know if his eyes were open in this picture, but it was a time like this:

And we will miss him. 🙁 We do thank the Lord for granting us the time with him, and in the end not a long, lingering farewell:

Bye Tuskie…you were special to us. 🙂

— David