Things will get back to “normal” here soon, September has been the busiest and craziest month full of stuff and I am real annoyed about not having had time to get back to things, especially the music blog because I’ve got a couple of big announcements to make. But hopefully next week.
My mom’s 20+ year old cat Snow – the one who took a little vacation this summer for a couple of weeks and scared us to death – died quietly in her sleep almost two weeks ago. So it had been a rough month already.
Then this morning my fluffy white angel left us. He was about 17 years old, so not all that unexpected, but I would have liked to have had a little more of a break after his buddy Schuyler, who hasn’t even been gone two months yet, and Miss Snow. And of course Lulu, my Beagle-Dachshund, earlier in the summer and Rocky earlier this year.
I know I was very fortunate to have had these last eight years with him because, for one thing, he was actually almost near death when I took him in in 2000, when he had to have basically a facelift because some dog or cat had gotten hold of him outdoors and nearly torn one side of his face off. Once his fur grew back, you never really could tell what had happened and he was all gorgeous and white and fluffy once again.
And he almost died again two or three years after that when he stopped eating and developed fatty liver disease. For a couple of weeks he was barely conscious, and I babied him and force-fed him food, water, and medicine from the vet until he finally started getting better again and eating on his own. I can tell you in no uncertain terms that once he started staying more conscious and alert again and improving, that whole force-feeding thing did NOT go over too well, and he probably started eating on his own again not so much out of really wanting to eat, but wanting me to cut that foolishness out and stop bothering him with it.
And we kind of just went through that again this week on a lesser level with me trying to get water in him to keep him hydrated and comfortable. He was so sick, but not so sick that he wasn’t getting mad at me for repeatedly bothering him with that nursing kitten baby bottle full of water.
Anyway, I know we were fortunate to have had eight pretty good years together and especially considering the two other times he almost died, which were now both so long ago.
Which now leaves me with just the two elderly ones – Dobie will be 14 in November, which is really old for a bigger dog, and Little the cat at 16 or 17 (I can never remember). Both of whom already had frightening stroke-like episodes this summer, but are basically doing fine.
Though Maggie, the black and white cat on my shoulder above, is not so young herself now at 11, and Missy’s not too far behind her in years now. Everybody here’s old now, really, except the “puppies” and Quincy and Tojo… and Quincy is approaching middle cat age at this point too.
I feel pretty old today too. 2008′s been a pretty exhausting year, in lots of ways.
I’ll be taking Audi up to Mom’s tomorrow, and lay him to rest in her gorgeous back yard next to his buddy Schuyler, and Miss Snow. I’m so sorry now that I didn’t take Rocky and Lulu up there too, and Audi’s old best friend my best cat ever, who was also old when he left us and has been gone several years now.
My mom saw a black cat with green eyes around the neighborhood that she had never seen before shortly after Schuyler left us. It would be really weird if she started seeing white cats she’d never seen before too, fluffy or short-haired either one, or both. Or all three, a black cat and two white cats. That would be really weird.
I will miss my fluffy angel kitty. He rested all morning curled up in my arm with his head on my shoulder while I slept, and I woke up again right when the time came, and he left just like that, curled up with his head on my shoulder.
Now Tojo’s out here this afternoon aggravating everyone else, like most days. Life goes on.
