My precious friend was a wonderful gift entrusted to me by his mother.
Darth Vader's mother was abandoned by her owners when they moved away from my apartment complex. I started feeding her and she started to warm up to me. It was not long before she started coming by my apartment daily for food and attention; both of which I was more than happy to give. I never gave her a name, although some children in the complex started to call her "Angel Princess" later on after Vader's birth.
It was not long before nature took it's course and Angel Princess became pregnant. I wondered where she would give birth to her kittens. She found a safe place under the apartment steps at the opposite end of my building. I continued to care for this very loving cat and wondered how her owners could have been so cruel.
The reason I know Vader's date of birth is due to his mother visiting me on a Saturday night, the day before Mother's day. She was still very much pregnant. I fed her a good meal and sat with her awhile before going inside as the hour had grown late. The next day, I did not see Angel Princess. I did not worry too much since I figured she was somewhere planning to give birth. The next day, I went outside to see if Angel Princess would appear. When she heard the sound of my door opening, she emerged from her safe place and bounded up the stairs to greet me. She was not pregnant anymore, so I knew she had given birth the previous day. My girlfriend who had owned cats through out her life told me that Angel Princess would bring them outside once they were old and healthy enough to go outside of their lair.
A month had passed before Angel Princes revealed her kittens; on Father's day of all days! There were four total, with Vader being the smallest. My girlfriend had a thing for black cats and stated she wanted Vader since obviously, he was black. My next door neighbor knew that we wanted the cat.
One day as I returned home from work, the humane society was at my apartment building to take the cats away. A tenant up stairs from where the cats were living had called. My next door neighbor told they if I wanted the cat, I had better hurry. I explained to the humane society that I wanted the cat and had no objections. Vader's three siblings were taken away. Angel Princess managed to escape. After all was again quiet and safe, she came back looking and crying for her kittens. We had taken Vader in the house and he cried incessantly. Angel Princess knew her baby was inside. She stayed at the door, refusing to leave. My girlfriend decided to let Angel Princess and her baby go back to the lair. I told my neighbor living over the lair that the cats had returned and asked that she not call the humane society since I planned to make Vader my pet and he needed his mother to care for him. She agreed to this and her children started to feed Angel Princess. These were the children who named her. About a month had passed when I saw something out of the corner of my eye when leaving for work. I looked down, and there was Vader! Angel Princess had brought him to me. I did not take him in right away since he was still nursing. Once I did, he became my best buddy for fourteen years.
The irony of all this is that I did not want the cat. I worried about him scratching the furniture and carpet and felt the apartment was too small. I only took him in because of my girl friend. It did not take long for me to fall in love with Vader and yes, he was destructive as I had imagined. We moved into a house a year later where Vader continued his shenanigans. He was using potted plants as his liter box and even ate one to where there were no leaves left. He had also started to chew on the dining room chairs and my girlfriend told me this was due to anxiety when I was away from home. Vader continued to be part of our family the rest of his precious days. Even though he is gone, I have permanent reminders of his life with us every time I look at my chairs, or a dark stain on my hardwood floor where he marked his territory. I was able to minimize the damage with a little work and did not hold anything against him.
In August, 2016, I noticed that Vader was having trouble eating. It was obvious that his mouth was hurting as he would paw at it and drop food while eating. I took him to the vet. The vet looked into Vader's mouth and said that tarter build up was the problem. The vet cleaned his teeth and sent him home. The problem soon reoccurred. I took Vader back to the vet. The vet then said it was a bad tooth causing Vader's problem and he pulled it. I thought all was well until a few months later in February, 2017, Vader was having the same problem. I took him to a different vet who examined him. This vet thought Vader had a bad mouth infection and prescribed antibiotics and a referral to another vet who could run x-rays. After the examination, I was given the dreaded news; my boy had squamous cell carcinoma. This is an aggressive, fast growing cancer that eventually grows to the point where the cat cannot eat. He was given three to six months to live. Devastated, I took Vader back to the original vet. He looked in his mouth and confirmed the diagnosis. He gave Vader three months to live.
Darth Vader lived up to his name. He fought to remain with me as long as possible until I had to make the painful decision to have him euthanized. He continued to eat as much as possible and continued to go about his daily routine up to the end. So on August 10, 2017 our journey came to and end. I sadly ended Vader's suffering. He left this world with some fire left in his eyes and his dignity intact.
Darth Vader will be missed greatly. He was a part of my life, home and a part of the scenery. Vader saw me through a job loss and a marriage to my girlfriend who wanted Vader all those years ago. The back of the couch against the window will never be the same again since he will no longer lounge there. I appreciate the love gift that Angel Princess gave to me fourteen years ago and the love Vader and I shared over the years.
I miss you my friend! I know the force is with you now and you are one with the force.
