Thurston

I know some of you have probably been curious how Shelli and I have been doing since we lost him. I’m sure it wasn’t a secret that we had a very strong bond with Thurston. When I say he was my best friend, that wasn’t an exaggeration. And to Shelli he was her baby. Suffice it to say we grieved hard. Things got bad for a while, to the point that our lives fell completely apart for a little bit there. I guess that’s a story for another day, but suffice it to say that, along with help from our families, one of the last gifts Thurston gave us is that we both finally sought treatment for our long-term issues with mental health. And things are going pretty well now.

I feel like we have both reached some measure of peace with his passing. It’s been hard and I still struggle just to see his little face sometimes. I definitely want to keep posting on his YouTube, but going through his videos is really hard for me as I’m sure you can imagine. I am getting closer to being able to do it though.

Thurston was not only a cat but a person to me. Maybe some people would say that are having this level of bond with a cat is unhealthy, but I’ve always believed that when you love it is something you should give freely, completely unrestrained. Because the consequences of regret from holding back love are far greater than the pain of loss later on when you’ve given with your whole heart. It’s worth it to just give! The love I have for Thurston still gives me joy to think about. It’s more important and stronger than the pain of his loss. And that’s really how I would like him to be remembered as a beautiful creature, a beautiful PERSON, that gave us lots of joy.

Every cat is spectacularly special and beautiful in their own way. Perhaps some of Thurston’s beautiful qualities are things you see reflected in your own cat. Or maybe your cat has their own special beauty that no one can see but you. So all I can say, is treasure that animal, and give them all your love. As every cat knows: they totally deserve it 😽

So after a lot of reflection, Shelli and I found we had more love to give. Our new house was completely cat-ified for Thurston anyhow, so we adopted two cats from local shelters. We are learning more about who each of them are so they can show us their own unique personalities. Their names are Nanners and Moon Pie

Anyhow, I hope this post finds you well! How was your year? Have any thoughts to share? I hope you’re doing well.

🌈 I can’t believe I’m even writing this but I have to tell you now that we’ve lost Thurston. It hurts his mom and I to know how much reading this is going to hurt so many of you. Your bond with him was real. Your bond with us is real. It’s always been palpable through the kind words you gave us and the jokes we made with our favorite little guy. I know this is going to feel sudden for you because it’s sudden for us as well. I just want to warn you upfront that I’m about to discuss what happened. I know it can be hard to read these kinds of details so I wanted you to be aware.

After 15 years we made a huge positive life change. During the one month since we got here Thurston was loving the new house. Only days before we lost him he was sprinting around the house like a kitten, which is why what happened next was so shocking and difficult to process.

We have been fighting what seems like a sinus infection for several weeks with him. The vets (we had two separate opinions) reasonably thought it had to be either a sinus infection or something related to his teeth. So after treating him with antibiotics and not having the problem go away, the vet suggested we do a dental since

They thought it most likely he had an abscessed tooth. they call us later that day to say that his teeth were all fine but they had found a mass. They asked if we wanted to do a CAT scan, to which we of course said yes, after which it was viewed by a radiologist who confirmed that it was nasal cancer.

Upon waking up, his sinus infection went into overdrive, did not respond to antibiotics, and two days later he was gone. I hope it comforts you to know that we did everything we could to make him feel happy and safe, and that his passing was a gentle one. He spent his last days in front of his favorite lamp with his mom and I making everything feel as normal as possible.

That said, his mom and I are completely devastated. They say dogs are man’s best friend, but mine was a cat. A shrimpy, sweet, lovable, goofy white cat. I’m not sure what to do with his social media from here. I’ve been going through his videos and so many of them still make me laugh. Maybe after we’ve had time to heal, Thurston can make you laugh again too. 🍤

All the love, Matt and Shelli

-I’m probably going to be off-line and not replying to comments, but I will read them and I thank you for all your kind words ❤️

Hi everybody! Well here we are, just about to move. This has been an incredibly stressful couple of months and I’ve missed all of you. We are finally at the finish line! Our house was 103 years old and needed more TLC than we wanted to put into it. We lived in it for over 15 years and it was long past time for us to move on! In fact, Thurston spent his whole life inside of that house, so despite all of its problems it was still a home. Nonetheless, when an amazing opportunity presented itself for us to make a big life change we decided to jump on it.

Throughout the years Thurston‘s mom and I have both dealt with varying degrees of anxiety and depression, so for us making a change this big is huge for us.

Due to the busyness I haven’t been taking as many photos of Thurston, but now that we are finally getting moved I will be trying to post more regularly! It will probably be sporadic for a while still, and will include photos at both our old house and the new house since I have a lot of catching up to do! Hope you are all doing well! Thurston is healthy and happy and adjusting well to his new home!

One of our last walks before MOVING!!!

One of these days Thurston will find his buried treasure ❌🏴‍☠️💎💰

Hey everybody! Really sorry for our extended absence! We very unexpectedly got the opportunity to move to a new home. It’s exciting for us since we have been in our current home for a long, long time (Thurston‘s whole life). This is a very positive change for us! It will also be a positive change for Thurston because he’s going to have a beautiful fenced backyard and much more room in the house to shrimp! Our current house is about 1000 square feet, so in the new one he should actually have room to run around, which will be especially great for him during our long winters. Things have been happening very fast: from finding out we were moving to our closing date it will be just a little over a month. So as you can imagine we have been pretty busy! Thurston is doing extremely well healthwise! At his last check up, his kidney values were amazingly on the upper end of normal. He has had tons of energy and pep and been making demands for a walk every few hours, complicating the moving process I should add lol. He also is a great supervisor as we pack, barking orders anytime someone slows down. Anyhow, I apologize if my posting is patchy for the near future, but I will have a ton of great posts to catch up on once we finish this process. Lots of love from your Wafflefam 😼❤️

Wondering if there’s enough interest for us to start an OnlyPrawns…? 😽😻😼

Took my dog for a walk today!

Fish out til ur dish out!

Nocturnal creatures 🌕✨☄️

This is but a glimpse of how easily he could destroy us. Hold your loved ones close tonight. 😱

As we enter the new st0nking season, Thurston would just like to remind everyone that st0nking requires finesse, and you should therefor leave it to the professionals. 🤵‍♂️👩‍🔬🧪⚗️🧬🔬

Mr. Sunshine serving up his morning stumping.

POV: you are a shrimp

Thurston is having a shramp out ⛺️🍤🌲

How to pulverize your enemy through sheer intimidation! 😼

Monday vibes 😾