Tesla was a 5 year old Russian Blue Mix that was adopted at 6 weeks from a stray mama and her new family. He was the furry love of our lives the 5 short years we had with him. He was the smartest cat I've ever met. He loved people but was not much of a lap cat. His preferred activity was play time. He would play fetch with his favorite yellow mouse toy for hours at a time if you could stand throwing it that long. He loved the laser pointer, bubbles, and even just our hands. Scratching on the mattress, biting my feet (softly), and walking across my head were his favorite ways to wake me up in the morning. He always knew when you were coming home and be on the other side of the door meowing when you were unlocking it as if to complain about the fact that you were finally home after being gone. He loved to eat. He was photogenic and usually a very patient muse. My favorite moments were when he'd hop up in bed at night after it was quiet (never when called) and knead and purr on the blanket at my side. For several days this past June he was lethargic and not his usual self. I took him into the ER when it became difficult to wake him when feeding him his favorite treat-tuna! I knew something was wrong. It was discovered, much to horror that he had renal lymphoma and had most likely been suffering from it for quite some time. He hid his symptoms completely until just a few days before I took him in. He was too far gone to help in any significant way, so we opted to try and make his last 5 weeks on this earth as comfortable and nice for him as possible. I hoped and prayed that he would defy the odds and bounce back, but he inevitably passed away on 8/17/2018-5 weeks after the initial diagnosis. Thanks to some pain meds and steroid injections, he was able to be himself during most of that time and we spoiled him rotten! He had a buffet of his favorite treats every day, I never left his side and played all his favorite games. I am so thankful that we had this long goodbye with him. He will never be forgotten and this hole in our hearts will never be filled.