Comments | lilmissnever: And Then My Cat Died

lilmissnever

And Then My Cat Died

Jun 11, 2014 22:55

There was a time when I might have written this differently. I might have started with the time that my cat staggered into the shower while it was still on and just stood there, dull-eyed and dazed while the water fell on her. I might talk about the many trips to the vet, the pancreatitis, the enlarged kidney, the high levels of calcium in her ( Read more... )

cats, death

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elusis June 12 2014, 03:05:12 UTC

I'm so sorry, you guys. You did the best you could, and I'm sorry that she was so sick that it still wasn't possible to make her better.

lilmissnever June 12 2014, 17:47:48 UTC

I wish we'd had a better idea of the cause of her illness. If the vet had found cancer or if she'd had hepatic lipidosis again, somehow I think it would be easier to comprehend. Under stress, I am still fundamentally an engineer--I want to know why things are broken. Like most stress reactions, I know it's ridiculous. Knowing what killed my cat will not make her any less dead.

J and I argue about whether or not Perl misses her sister. J insists that Perl is being more clingy than usual. I think Perl is just thrilled to have Bunker 3 all to herself.

thewronghands June 12 2014, 22:01:05 UTC

Yeah, when Cull and I had Brendan and Eachtra, and Brendan died, we went through that. We thought we'd have to get another cat so that Eachtra wouldn't be lonely. Instead, she was happy that she had everything now. HER sunbeam. HER lap. ALL HER food. So we didn't get another cat. It really brought home our projections of grief there, and how they were not shared by the actual remaining cat.

lilmissnever June 12 2014, 22:37:44 UTC

I want another cat because I want my cat. Perl does not appear to feel to same way. Besides, there's no way to be sure that a new cat would love me best. I venture it would be unlikely, given that J now stays home living a life of retired leisure and I travel all over the place.

vicious_wench June 13 2014, 00:16:43 UTC

Cats choose their people. There's no way to predict it. But you'll get another cat if and when you're ready.

elusis June 14 2014, 02:00:03 UTC

Yeah, I understand the Urge to Understand. Ophelia got a "presumptive" dx of bowel cancer right after I moved here, but I never paid for the biopsy to confirm it because I have a No Chemo for Kitty rule. So it wasn't until she died two years later, and I got her cleaned skeleton back from the Bone Room a year after that, that I got confirmation that indeed, it WAS a tumor (you can hear that in an Arnie voice or not, depending on how much levity you have spoons for ( ... )

lilmissnever June 15 2014, 23:10:58 UTC

Does this mean that you currently have four cats? That seems like more cats than people, at which point your house is no longer your house--it is a support system for cats.

The kittens have come to the Mysterious Workplace. I have enjoyed cuddling them, but I am not the least bit tempted to take any of them home. I think this means it is not yet time for me to have another cat.

elusis June 15 2014, 23:27:19 UTC

No, I had four cats for about two years - Ophelia's predicted "one month to one year" prognosis lasted much longer than anticipated - but when she died in 2009, I had already decided that four cats was one too many. Three cats is OK, even though there are still more cats than people, because I'm bigger than they are and I have thumbs. Having Frank around helps too, because he is even bigger than me. (Same number of thumbs though.)

I definitely support your use of kitten poultices as both an intervention and an assessment. <3

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