Murphy

Murphy passed away peacefully on the morning of Tuesday, March 31st. He was surrounded by love and warmthMurphy from staff and Dr. Alcala. We thank you very much for all the love and attention you gave to sweet Murphy. He was lucky to have all of you in his life; and we, in turn, were just as lucky to have him in ours! And he will be greatly missed.

Murphy arrived at the Blue Bell on October 31, 2000 together with Houdie and 3 other cats, all from the same home. He turned 19 this year and up until the past few months he was in relatively good health. When I first started at Blue Bell four years ago, he was the same size as Char! In fact the only way I could tell them apart was one, their eyes were shaped different, and two, "if you approach an all-black cat and it runs, then it's Char, not Murphy." haha

He was diagnosed with hyperthyroidism in 2006 and although he lost a significant amount of weight initially, his daily medication stabilized him and he seemed to enjoy his new-found slender physique. He was a great patient, as all Sarah or I had to do was call his name and he would come trotting from wherever he was to get his meds and a treat.

MurphyHe was an easy cat to fall in love with - active, expressive and quite the acrobat when it came to wand toys! He loved catnip, brushings, sitting outside in the bowls and lounging in the sunshine on the patios. It was hilarious when I would on occasion witness he and Houdie having a case of the "afternoon crazies" where they would all of a sudden start chasing each other full speed around the patios and then end up in a heap on the ground, rolling and wrestling and then they were off again.

Recently his kidneys started failing and we did what we could to make him comfortable until he let us know he was ready. His last day he spent much of the morning outside by the pond. Sunny stopped by to say goodbye and Maria spent some time with him outside, as he was one of her favorites. Dr. Alcala was kind enough to come down to Blue Bell and he settled into one of his favorite blue bowl bowls in front of the fountain on the beautiful sunshine morning. Sarah and I said our goodbyes and wished him well on his journey and new pain-free life as he crossed over the Rainbow Bridge.

We'll miss you S'Murphy, S'murph, Mr. Halloween cat....
Thank you for letting us love you and for trusting us with your care.