A Tribute to Moo Moo Jackson

September 28, 2009
NOTE; This was written as originally dated but since then Moo Moo's father passed away so I am updating the story.

A good friend of mine died this morning. I was fortunate to have known him for several years. He was a diabetic as well as an idiopathic epileptic, who had to take insulin each morning and each evening. But he didn’t mind. He looked forward to his injections because he knew that was when he would be allowed to eat. We spent hours keeping each other company although our conversations didn’t amount to much. I guess we didn’t have very much in common. He came to me bearing the name “Moo Moo”, and I jokingly added the name Jackson. 

My dad sometimes called me Moo Moo Jackson when I was a child, so I felt obligated to share it with him. Yes, I’m sad today. What else can I say. I don’t even have a picture to remember him by. No doubt, I’ll eventually lose more good friends, I have several that I’ll probably outlive, But death is a part of living, you can’t have one without the other, we all must eventually die. We can only mourn our loss, shed tears of sorrow and go on living as best we can without that particular friend. 

In case you are wondering about Moo Moo, He was my eleven year old pet cat. I still have his fourteen year old father, Smokey, and a female cat who won’t give her age, named Ling Ling. And I have three dogs left. Yes, I’ll no doubt be shedding tears of sorrow again in time. I hope it's not too soon.

Smokey the Cat

It's four years later now and Moo Moo's father and my good friend Smokey passed away from old age. He just began to get weaker and one day he went to that eternal sleep in my arms. It was a sad day for me for he was my constant companion. He slept on my arm every night and never disturbed me until he was sure I was awake.

At my age I have had many pets. My back yard has become a pet cemetery of sorts. I have very little room for many more. My friends Midnight, Abigail, Tammy, Lady, Chip, Moo Moo, Precious, Rambo, Pookie and others whose names escape me right now are all buried there.

In the last 40 years I have owned or been owned by many animal friends and have had a great fondness for all of them. Things I have learned from my pets are that when you own small animals as pets, you become part of their family.