Clovis was a shelter kitten. I adopted him in May, 1997, along with his foster-brother Furrfu. They weren't littermates, but were in the same cage at the shelter and always got along well.

I picked out Clovis at the shelter because he was unusual looking and had a self-assured and rather arrogant air about him. He was clever, bold, and inclined to mischief; when he was young he loved to pounce on the other cats when they least expected it, and was fond of rough games of wrestling and tag. This caused a few problems when he picked on the cats who didn't tolerate that sort of thing very well, but most of the time he played with the ones whose tastes matched his own.

When not roughhousing with other cats, Clovis enjoyed playing with toys, in particular his pipe cleaners. I buy them in various thicknesses for the cats to play with, and Clovis would "catch" them and carry them around the house, yowling loudly to announce his kill, especially late at night when I was trying to sleep. He also enjoyed singing loudly in the bathtub at odd hours.

Clovis remained close to Furrfu, who has a much milder nature and patiently tolerated being pinned down and forcibly washed. The two of them often curled up together. Clovis also showed an unexpected flair for playing "nanny" to kittens; he adopted many of the younger cats when I brought them into the household, washing and playing with them, and just generally taking charge of their upbringing.

Clovis had some health problems in his later years, particularly inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) which did not respond well to treatment. When he was twelve years old he had been losing weight, which I thought at first was due to the IBD. However, even though some new medication seemed to be helping with his digestive problems, his weight loss continued and one day he started acting lethargic and refused to eat at all. An examination by the vet revealed that he had several growths scattered around his body, probably cancerous, and including at least one in his lungs. We were hoping to stabilize him and see whether we could at least keep him comfortable for a little while longer, but while hospitalized overnight Clovis developed respiratory distress, and then went into cardiac arrest and could not be revived.

It was hard to lose him so quickly, and at an earlier age than I would have hoped. Clovis was a particularly intelligent cat with a wonderful personality, and I was very attached to him.