Some more Friendly poems and memories can be found here: https://meridians.substack.com/p/friendly
We got Boots and Morrice from Furry Friends in Barrie, a no kill shelter. They were surrendered from a hoarding situation, of maybe 35 cats. We renamed them Friendly and Rusty for the Friendly Giant TV show and Rusty the Rooster, supporting puppet. Friendly was a people pleaser and didn’t like cats. Our cats loved him, and wore him down. Rusty was nervous around people and would look to Friendly for protection and comfort.
We introduced the new ‘twins’ to the rest of the household fairly quickly. They walked past all the other cats as if they weren’t even there, and slowly started exploring the house. The other cats, entered the now open room we had quarantined them too to sniff around.
Neko was the house favorite, and Friendly wanted to be that too. For the most part they reluctantly tolerated each other. But on a few occasions they would rush each other, hold each other, scratch, kick and bite each other, caterwauling all the while. It looked exactly like the cartoon cat fight, a cloud with cat arms and extended claws sticking out. At the end there was fur all over the floor. Surprisingly there was no blood.
Friendly loved people, cat’s not so much. When he wanted space, he would do a little bark meow to let them know.
Friendly loved to lick your nose. Normally this would be delightful. But his tongue was as rough as any sand paper. One time after a few licks, my nose started to bleed. He would purr as soon as you touched him.
Neko had always been my teddy bear when it was bed time. He would come up to my neck, and wrap his paws around me. Friendly would try to cuddle too. But to avoid fighting he was relegated to the other side a few feet down. When Neko died, Friendly gladly took the spot of honour and help me doze off peacefully every night. They both spoiled me. Since Friendly’s passing, I sleep alone and very poorly.
Looking back at the pictures it is surprising how often Friendly would get right next to Neko, actually touching. I think he really was trying to be nice in his own way.
For a large cat he was surprisingly agile. We had cat walkways downstairs that hung from the ceiling. He would get his big old body up there and perch just like our thinner cats. As he (and other cats) got older and clumsier we took down the walk ways to avoid serious accidents.
When a stray cat (Clover) used to come around our house and sleep in the garage, sometimes the cats would be on the front porch. If Friendly was there, they would be within eye shot, but pretend to ignore each other.
When we did a big push to try and capture Clover, we opened the house / garage door a crack so our cats could meet Clover. Friendly was the only one that showed interest and Clover was very interested in Friendly. Sometimes they would talk to each other. This is very odd as Friendly shows very little interest in other cats.
Over time, after we caught Clover, Clover idolized Friendly. He broke down that tough demeanor and made Friendly love him. Occasionally Friendly would play chase with Clover. Not well, but he tried. More than a few times, I would wake up in the early morning to see Friendly over Clover, on his back play-fighting. I actually think Friendly was trying to force Clover off his spot. He would bark at Clover, and Clover would try and hold him back with his paws outstretched.
Cardigan and Trolley also made him more cat social. If I would pet Friendly one of them often forced themselves between us, and insisted that Friendly groom them. They certainly wore him down, as he often acquiesced.
Near the last few months, Clover made a big push to be near him as much as possible. He would watch over him as he slept in the library. He would cuddle up to him on the bed. He actually would get him to play-fight. Friendly never did that with another cat. Clover made Friendly’s last few months very special. There are also a lot more pictures of him and his twin Rusty side by side. He also spent more time up on Shannon’s bed.
Cardigan sat next to him the day before, the day during, and right up until the end. It was nice to have one of his brothers ‘hold his paw’.
Friendly was diagnosed with diabetes in Jan 2024 at the age of 15. For two years we took his blood faithfully 3 times a day, gave him his two shots and adjusted as necessary. He had ups and downs. There were two short periods when he could barely walk, then he would recover. His eyesight (cataracts) got worse and worse. But he took it like a champ. He had many more good days than bad. We could not have asked for a better patient. Cats are not known for being cooperative patients. Friendly always, bravely, let us take the readings and give him the shots. He was diagnosed with Kidney Disease mid 2025. I believe it was this that finally took him down.
Friendly stopped eating on the 25 Dec 2025. Everything we tried, he would eat very little, then no longer eat what we tried. On the 5th day he was only ingesting water, then not even water.
The day we had Friendly euthanized at home, we thought all the cats would scatter. We never have visitors. At the very least I thought young Clover would have stayed. Surprisingly, Cardigan sat there a foot away watching the whole procedure. A miracle in my opinion. It was very beautiful that one of his brothers was at his side. After he passed, Cardigan got up, sniffed him, walked over top of him and left.
He hated going to the vet. So much so that when we had to take him in to renew insulin prescriptions, his blood glucose was off for a month due to the stress.
I loved him. I did. But not as much as he loved me. Nor as much as I loved the other cats. I feel so guilty about that. Other than fighting with Neko, he was an ideal cat in every way. He just gave and gave. And yet. I think maybe he was too human. I miss him a lot and not at all. He was the Big Show!
There were days his diabetes was so bad I had to carry him up and down the stairs and days his back legs failed him. His vision got worse and worse. And yet he weathered it. His legs got better slowly. And he could walk again. He never seemed to pity himself. Just lived his best self day to day. Shannon brought this to my attention. A wise cat.
Songs to remember by…