Mercury and Festus were brothers. It is always advised to adopt related cats and keep feline families together. This helps to ensure harmony and a bond. Re, as we often called him (or Re Re) was the more bold of the pair and I distinctly remember him playing with the strings on my backpack in the adoption room where we met.
Mercury was also the most insulted when I decided I was going to save the world, one cat at a time, and continue to grow our feline and canine family. Mercury was the very first cat in my personal life that started spraying! He even sprayed me once while I was sitting on the couch in my scrubs, needless to say I started changing immediately after arriving home after that. Behavior slowly became my focus, but initially it was so that I could better understand my own household.
Mercury very slowly became paralyzed his last year of life. We never got an official diagnosis but we managed his care and he became our SECOND paralyzed cat at the time requiring bladder expression as well as defecating help. These were the only two cats that never got to forage. I learned about that just after losing them. It’s sad the regrets one has of those who came earlier, before I knew as much as I do know, hoping I gave them a good enough life.
We love and miss you boys.