Socks the Cat Dies!

Rest in Peace, Socks

Another of my feline favourites has died. Socks, the former cat of the Clinton family, was euthanized yesterday morning.

Socks's caretaker, Betty Currie, broke the news yesterday afternoon. The cat had been suffering from jaw cancer and seemed unable to get up after collapsing in his litter box yesterday morning.

"He wouldn't eat for two days," Currie told SoMdNews.com. "This morning, when I got up, he didn't get up [too] like he normally would." Given the cat's deteriorating condition, Currie consulted a vet, who agreed that it was probably time to put Socks to sleep.

The Clintons adopted Socks for their daughter, Chelsea, while Bill Clinton was governor of Arkansas, and brought him to the White House in 1993. The black-and-white kitty was a familiar sight throughout the Clinton administration -- in which Currie served as the president's personal secretary -- and had been living with Currie in Hollywood, Md., since Clinton left office in 2001.

In a joint statement, Bill and Hillary Clinton said Socks had brought their family much happiness, and thanked "our good friend, Betty Currie, for taking such loving care of Socks for so many years."

Socks would have turned 20 this spring. Currie said she plans to have the former First Pet cremated.

While he had a good and long life and it sounds like Berrt Currie was good to him, why would a family desert their kitty - for politics. My meomy would never do that and grumbles about it. I don't blame her. We kitties do not likemocing that much!