We first met Drake at the humane society in St. Cloud.  My husband Eric(then my boyfriend), his mom, and I went to check out the animals one day and when we walked into the cat room a black cat named "Destiny" was meowing loudly and reaching his paw through the cage.  We were all goners. We didn't know exactly how old he was, but the vets estimated that he was about 7 months.  His name had to change though cuz Eric's roommates were harassing the poor cat since he had such a girly name.  We thought of Drake and it just fit.



Drake had the most incredible purr you can imagine....you could hear it through the phone and his whole body would vibrate.  He would meow and rub his nose on your face and if you stopped petting him he would push his nose against your hand.  He loved to play fetch....you would throw something and he would chase after it and bring it back to you.  He was always at the door to greet you when you returned home. 



Eric and I got married two years after we got Drake and a month later we moved into a new home.  Soon after Drake got sick...started as a UTI and developed into a plugged blatter(the vet said it was the size of a softball...equivilent to a basketball size in humans).  He had to be catheterized and was at the vets for a week.  He never really came back from it and slowly developed kidney problems and was continuously on regimets of antibiotics.  He would get better, but then go downhill again.  We had to keep him in a room in our basement because he would leak urine, and I couldn't have that happen all over our new house.  My husband and I just got to a point where we couldn't continue to watch him in so much agony.  ALthough he was on major amounts of pain killers, and continued to meow and purr....you could see it in his eyes.  



The night before we brought him in we gave him a good bath (he had always prided himself on his good looks!) and made the appointment for the next day.  It was a peaceful death....I held him and we both talked to him as the doctor and his assistant administered the tranquilizers.  Tears were falling hard from both of us, and also the vet and his assistant as they grew to love Drake over time as well.  As he slipped away we knew that we had been blessed to have him in our lives....even for only 2 years. 



Sometimes I feel cheated...that we only had him for such a short time, when others have their cats for many more years.  But Drake showed us so much love and affection, that we know it was worth it.  The vet said that he thought Drake had something called FIV which is similar to AIDS in cats.  He also had renal and kidney problems and of course we could have continued treatment, but 5 months of constant sickness had taken a serious toll on Drake and us both.  



It is now almost five hours since he has left us and I have cried so many tears for Drake.  Looking back at how I grew up on a farm in the country where cats were a dime a dozen....I never would have imagined that I would have fallen so hard for a cat.  We loved hime SOOO much and he will hold a special place in our hearts forever.