Of cats and vets
In the aftermath of losing George, I've been keeping busy. You have to keep moving after losing anybody and I hate that. It's been really hard.
Made harder by a cat named Galaxy Cry (not a name I chose, so I call her just Galaxy) who's lived at the Red House since before I moved in. She's been here for probably a year and a half. One of my roommate's friends stayed here for one summer, brought Galaxy with him, and left her when he went away. She became kind of the house cat - not any specific person's pet. For the last few months, she's been having trouble eating and I think it's because she needs a tooth pulled. My brother's cat Felix behaved the same way before we found out he had to have all four of his molars pulled.
The thing is, Felix was thirteen years old when we had his teeth pulled. He's almost sixteen now. He went from being wiry and concentration-camp skinny to being pear-shaped and very soft. He also used to be the most bad-tempered cat I've ever known, but now that his teeth don't hurt him, he's cuddly and wants to be held.
Galaxy has never been "cuddly," but everyone in the house has been insisting she's a bitch. I don't believe that; I believe she's just in pain. And no one has wanted to do anything about her teeth because it's expensive. Even me. I just kept figuring that somehow, everyone would either decide to chip in and help her, or she would run away, and that's fucking cruel.
After seeing George put down, I decided it wasn't worth letting her starve to death or end up put down because we're negligent. I told Ty last night that I can't go without trying to help Galaxy Cry because otherwise, I feel like the weight of her soul will be on me. So even though I don't have the money for this, I'm taking her to the vet on Tuesday just for a once-over. I want to know what's actually wrong with her. If it's something I can afford to fix through financing and maybe using a little of my savings, then I'll do it. It's not fair to her to say that because we didn't pick her, we refuse to help her in the least.
Ty thought I was a sucker at first and so did Jeff, but they came around when I told them why I wanted to help Galaxy as much as I can. Chris is the last one holding out. He doesn't like Galaxy and thinks she's not worth saving, but I've had a lot of experiences when she was downright friendly. The one that stands out was after the fair last month, when I got tragically motion-sick after too many rides and too many ice cream potatoes and was orienting myself in Ty's car after we got home. Galaxy jumped in through the window, climbed in my lap, and started purring and rubbing her cheeks on me. I know animals can tell when people are in pain so it bothers me that we know she's in pain and haven't tried to help. So I'm helping.
Maybe I'm a sucker, maybe I'm a crazy cat lady, but I would rather try to help than stand by and do nothing for an animal in pain.
"Animals are such agreeable friends - they ask no questions, they pass no criticisms."
Made harder by a cat named Galaxy Cry (not a name I chose, so I call her just Galaxy) who's lived at the Red House since before I moved in. She's been here for probably a year and a half. One of my roommate's friends stayed here for one summer, brought Galaxy with him, and left her when he went away. She became kind of the house cat - not any specific person's pet. For the last few months, she's been having trouble eating and I think it's because she needs a tooth pulled. My brother's cat Felix behaved the same way before we found out he had to have all four of his molars pulled.
The thing is, Felix was thirteen years old when we had his teeth pulled. He's almost sixteen now. He went from being wiry and concentration-camp skinny to being pear-shaped and very soft. He also used to be the most bad-tempered cat I've ever known, but now that his teeth don't hurt him, he's cuddly and wants to be held.
Galaxy has never been "cuddly," but everyone in the house has been insisting she's a bitch. I don't believe that; I believe she's just in pain. And no one has wanted to do anything about her teeth because it's expensive. Even me. I just kept figuring that somehow, everyone would either decide to chip in and help her, or she would run away, and that's fucking cruel.
After seeing George put down, I decided it wasn't worth letting her starve to death or end up put down because we're negligent. I told Ty last night that I can't go without trying to help Galaxy Cry because otherwise, I feel like the weight of her soul will be on me. So even though I don't have the money for this, I'm taking her to the vet on Tuesday just for a once-over. I want to know what's actually wrong with her. If it's something I can afford to fix through financing and maybe using a little of my savings, then I'll do it. It's not fair to her to say that because we didn't pick her, we refuse to help her in the least.
Ty thought I was a sucker at first and so did Jeff, but they came around when I told them why I wanted to help Galaxy as much as I can. Chris is the last one holding out. He doesn't like Galaxy and thinks she's not worth saving, but I've had a lot of experiences when she was downright friendly. The one that stands out was after the fair last month, when I got tragically motion-sick after too many rides and too many ice cream potatoes and was orienting myself in Ty's car after we got home. Galaxy jumped in through the window, climbed in my lap, and started purring and rubbing her cheeks on me. I know animals can tell when people are in pain so it bothers me that we know she's in pain and haven't tried to help. So I'm helping.
Maybe I'm a sucker, maybe I'm a crazy cat lady, but I would rather try to help than stand by and do nothing for an animal in pain.
"Animals are such agreeable friends - they ask no questions, they pass no criticisms."