our furry first born...

chad and i got a cat right around our first thanksgiving as a married couple.

i adopted him from a feed store in luling, texas after my mom told me about the litter of kittens.

a friend of ours was so sure that i would not be able to catch him...and he came right to me.

he was only about 3 months old at the time.

my husband named him before even seeing him because he knew i was going after the orange one.

he was named, cheeto (even though he really is more tan than orange).

 he became our practice baby before our children were born. 

he lives inside and has a very interesting personality.

his breed is a maine coon. 

they are very large cats that act like dogs.

 he likes to be up on the couch and/or bed with us. 

he greets chad and the kids everyday at the door.

he loves cuddling with me.

he is 11 years old and anyone who has known us well in the past 10 years asks about him and are usually surprised he is still alive. (growing up my pets always lived for a long time. this is what i am used to.)

but we noticed that he was starting to limp recently and not wanting to go upstairs. 

for as long as we remember, he always goes to bed with us.

this had us worried, so we took him to a vet today. 

she is wonderful! she has a son in cari's class and she loves main coons. 

he might have hurt himself and probably has arthritis on top of that. 

we went home with pain medicine and supplements for him.

we won't encourage him to jump up anymore, 

but i'm sure we will spend more time down on the floor with him :)