RIP “Stinky”
Spring 2009 - Ocbober 21, 2013
Anyone who has visited the offices of Currin Compliance knows Stinky. He is the cat who lived at the office for most of his four years. A Main Street stray, who demanded to become part of the family, arrived with bilateral ear infections and was aptly named when Cailie first took him home to be a barn and field cat. However, despite being a great mouser and hunter of all small animals and birds, he also got into a number of fights with something bigger. His right ear bore a tear from one such fight and there were several visits to the vet for minor injuries. One day in 2010 his repeat combatant apparently got a hold of his tail and Stinky almost lost it. Upon his release from the vet hospital, he came to live at 14 Main Street where he became an integral part about what was good about working at CCS.
Stinky was known for his penchant for water. No glass, left unattended on a desk, would stay upright for long. Although he was fond of drinking some of the water he spilled, he had no reservations about leaving a nice puddle for the desk’s owner. Paper’s on the desk? Not a problem. Tipping the glass took precedence over everything.
One of Stinky’s other passions was depositing various items in the toilet. It was not uncommon to arrive in the morning to find binder clips or hard, wrapped candies left behind in the bowl. We often thought it would be fun to install a night vision camera to watch what he did all night when we left him alone. We found another cache of his deposits recently when we did some remodeling and found a whole pile of his favorite hard candies in a spot we couldn’t see before.
Stinky also made his presence known at staff meetings. Since several members of our team work remotely, we use GoToMeeting for weekly staff meetings. Stinky loved to walk in front of the iPad camera to make sure everyone knew he was present and ready to report on all his important activities of the week. Often his less attractive end was positioned just right for capturing onscreen.
Stinky had a particularly special friend in Ayla Dansin, Terry’s daughter. During the summers when Ayla spends more time in the office, Stinky would wait for her to arrive from her day’s activities. Then often they would be found curled up on Ayla’s mat for an afternoon nap. Stinky was always happy for her fun games, like rides on the special purple blanket – even when the rides took him bouncing down the main staircase.
Most of us at CCS found Stinky’s playfulness and loving nature impossible to resist. As he got sicker from Polycystic Kidney Disease and played less but loved just as much, the vibe around the office changed. Everyone watched for signs that he needed to go to the vets for fluid or that he wasn’t eating as much as he should.
We want to sincerely thank the folks at Battenkill Vet for their loving care of our Stinky, especially Amanda and Lynn, vet techs and Dr. Gretchen Allen. We knew that he was being lovingly cared for every time we visited there. Thank you all for your kindness to Stinky.
He was a lucky cat to have the love of a whole office, and community at large, bestowed on him, but we were all luckier to have him as a part of our daily work life. He will be missed.
