Intro

Spike Hufnagel (1992? - Feb.21, 2004)

On February 21st, 2004, the oldest of my 5 boys Spike passed away after a months long battle with cancer (lymphoma). The cancer had spread to his liver, and I helped him in the only way left that I could. I had a friend over to be with me, and called the local mobile vet, and helped him out of his suffering. My once proud 'king of the house' was a mere shadow of himself at the end.

Spike was a wonderful friend and companion. In 1995, a friend was moving into an apartment and couldn't take Spike with him, so he asked me to take him, knowing I was a good 'kitty dad'. I had known Spike for a while at that point, from visiting, and gladly took him.

I remember when I first brought him home, him and my little kitten (at the time, about 9months) Beau immediately bonded. He was kind of a "big brother" to Beau, and they were best of friends from then on. Spike had this habit of jumping on the bed at night, coming over to me purring very loudly, and pawing at the covers by my head wanting to get my hand. Of course, I'd start petting and scratching him, he'd climb under the covers with me, and he would be purring away, literally grabbing my hand and pulling it back to him if I tried to stop. If my arm was stretched out under the covers, he'd know exactly where my hand was and nose his way under the covers for attention. He was by far one of the most intelligent cats I've ever had.

Somehow he became the de-facto 'ruler' of the house, the only one who ever really tried to get around that was Tucker when I first got him. But Spike had this 'royalty' about him, the other boys respected him, and he would just walk up to them and bow his head in front of them, and they would start cleaning his head. He was the 'patriarch' of the house.

When I went outside, he would follow me around, watch me raking leaves from the deck, etc. He was as devoted to me as I was to him.

On his final day, after he was finally at peace, Beau came over and looked at him laying on the floor, and had this pained sad look on his face. He spent the next day hiding under the dining room table. I think he knew that he had just lost his big brother and best friend.

Spike is buried out back, next to my previous "king of the house", Jer. Like Jer, I put him in a nice wooden box with an old blanket. He's wrapped in an old towel that I had on the couch to keep it clean, so he's surrounded by the smells of his home and his family, and has an old toy mouse him and Beau used to play with in his arms, and a single red rose, kissed by his dad... who still loves him and misses him dearly.

I've collected pictures together here, of his life, and his end, as a memorial to my beloved baby.