Our Sweet Gus

Gus the cat

This is one of the hardest posts I’ll ever have to write. It is with so much sadness that we announce the passing of Gus, our beloved shop cat.

We rescued Gus almost nine years ago. He was so scared when he first got here that he figured out how to open the cabinets and would hide out in there for the first few weeks, only coming out at night to eat. We put blankets in there for him to be comfy and before long he decided laps weren’t so bad after all. Then desks. Then wherever he wanted, just pushing things out of the way to make sure he was comfortable.

Gus loved tape. Packing tape, scotch tape, all of the tapes! We had to hide our tape dispensers from him to keep him from eating it. And forget getting into a box, he just wanted to lick the packing tape.

He also loved water. He would play and play and play in the toilets; until again, we figured out if we keep the lid down he couldn’t make such a mess anymore. So he settled for sticking his paw in his water dish instead.

Gus (or as I referred to him, GusGus) had the loudest purrs. And the loudest yell. And boy did he talk. He needed to make sure everyone knew when he was walking down the hall or to tell us about his weekend while we were away.

Marj was his absolute favorite person. And he was hers. She could hold him like a baby while still working at her desk, and after he passed she shared with us that she would sing this song to him every day.

She bought me a beautiful piece of art for my office of a black kitty looking out of the frame. If she wasn’t there to witness it, no one would believe that he FREAKED OUT when he saw it! It was the funniest thing I think I ever saw him do, and he did a lot of silly things to keep us laughing.

Gus was there for us when we were sad, or upset, or just happy and wanted a cuddle. He would always oblige just as we would always let him take over our desks when he wanted a cuddle too.

GusGus, you are so missed. I hope Agnes is showing you the ropes of PHS CFO retirement. We love you bud.