William is the old man of my cat household. Today, he is on the sick list. At some point in the last month, he mixed it up with one of the other cats, and was bitten. The wound infected. He seemed to be getting better, but Thursday took a turn for the worse.

William is an interesting rescue. In 2008, I came home from work, and found a tiny ball of orange fluff in my chair. My roomie had brought him in and given him a bath.

He had a gloving injury. This is where the lower lip is peeled back, separating skin from muscle. It looked almost as if he had a second mouth below the first. This means that his introduction was a bath (because he was a mudball) and an emergency surgery.

He’s not let it slow him down. Will strutted through the house. Even as he aged, he romped and played, never letting the others forget that he was Cat.

Age might finally be winning. We are having a tough time today. Syringe feedings of water and broth, hourly. He has enough energy to complain about the room service. We shall see.