Without Fish
Some of you may have seen Sargon's post; Fish died late Monday night or early Tuesday.
We don't know why. Sargon went into his room and found her lying on his coat, like always, only she wasn't asleep.
It appears she went fast and painless, with no signs of distress. She'd been doing everything normally in the days before, and not acting sick or in pain. We're sure she was never in any discomfort.
She was young, only about nine years old. Obviously this came as a total surprise.
We're holding up okay. I feel aimless and lonely and sad, and kind of like I've been taken apart and re-stuffed with dirty rat bedding and sand, and all the other things you feel after a truly unexpected loss. Sargon seems to be feeling much the same. But we're coping.
Fish was, objectively, an awful cat. She bit us and knocked things over and crapped under Sargon's desk and sometimes peed on the floor and screamed like a buggered banshee if one of the other cats so much as poked her. She farted like a leaky zeppelin, would never stop sharpening her claws on the area rug, whined incessantly if you tried to brush her, and had all the grace of a furry eggplant. Of course, we loved her dearly.
We called her Fish because "she's grey on top, white on the bottom, small, stinky, and likes to nibble." She was Fishery-Dishery, daFeesh, Chub, Chub-Rub, Chubbs, Chunky Monkey, Fatass, and Thunderoceros (or Thunderosaurus, the spelling was never clear). The only cat I have ever had that I could hear coming into the room simply because she made the floorboards creak. Probably other nicknames, too, once I start remembering them all.
She was incredibly soft, plump, and pleasing, even if you could only enjoy it for a few seconds before she got overstimulated and bit the ever-loving crap right out of you. And she was a gorgeous cat. She had green-yellow eyes and a little of that double-thick coat over her shoulders that Russian Blues get. She had tiny feet and the shortest tail of any cat I ever had except Twindle, who lost hers in a battle with space Mongols or something. And she had the longest whiskers of any cat I ever knew.
She was a good auntie to the kittens, when we had them. She was a pretty rotten friend to Etrigan, but she still washed his ears, and he genuinely didn't seem to care about being bitten as long as he could nuzzle her fat belly.
She was not my cat, she was Sargon's cat. She slept with him and went to him for affection and pestered and farted on him, mostly, if she was going to do it to anyone. I'm really, really sorry he's lost her.
The other cats were called in and shown. Smooch and Sif know, but are just trucking along like normal. Etrigan was upset, though. He usually looks like he doesn't understand - I've met rubber bands smarter than this cat - but this was a different kind of doesn't understand. He looked hurt, and scared, and haunted. He fell asleep in my arms while we went to bed last night, and slept with me all night, right up against me or on my legs, something he has never before done. He was really upset this morning, just hunching into himself and in general acting like he was really cold, which is cat for "in pain," whether emotional or physical. We had company today, and he was played with and had some treats, and he's feeling so much better. I finally got a purr out of him around five. He has an Etch-A-Sketch for a brain, which works mostly in his favor. Nothing troubles him for long. We should all be so lucky.
I've been scarce lately anyway, so I don't know that this will affect things more than they have already been affected, but . . . I don't know that it won't.
Because I don't want to end on a down note, I will simply say that Fish made the best crazy faces I have ever seen on a cat. This was my favorite, from the day she caught her one and only mouse.
I . . . I actually think that picture sums her up pretty well, if you imagine cat farts and then sudden shrieking.
I will miss her.
Comment amnesty is declared: I will be reading, but maybe not replying. I'm very tired. A certain black cat kept waking me up so I got very little sleep!
Have a safe holiday weekend, if this is a holiday weekend for you. Love your pets and your people.
X-posted from Dreamwidth. Comment count:
We don't know why. Sargon went into his room and found her lying on his coat, like always, only she wasn't asleep.
It appears she went fast and painless, with no signs of distress. She'd been doing everything normally in the days before, and not acting sick or in pain. We're sure she was never in any discomfort.
She was young, only about nine years old. Obviously this came as a total surprise.
We're holding up okay. I feel aimless and lonely and sad, and kind of like I've been taken apart and re-stuffed with dirty rat bedding and sand, and all the other things you feel after a truly unexpected loss. Sargon seems to be feeling much the same. But we're coping.
Fish was, objectively, an awful cat. She bit us and knocked things over and crapped under Sargon's desk and sometimes peed on the floor and screamed like a buggered banshee if one of the other cats so much as poked her. She farted like a leaky zeppelin, would never stop sharpening her claws on the area rug, whined incessantly if you tried to brush her, and had all the grace of a furry eggplant. Of course, we loved her dearly.
We called her Fish because "she's grey on top, white on the bottom, small, stinky, and likes to nibble." She was Fishery-Dishery, daFeesh, Chub, Chub-Rub, Chubbs, Chunky Monkey, Fatass, and Thunderoceros (or Thunderosaurus, the spelling was never clear). The only cat I have ever had that I could hear coming into the room simply because she made the floorboards creak. Probably other nicknames, too, once I start remembering them all.
She was incredibly soft, plump, and pleasing, even if you could only enjoy it for a few seconds before she got overstimulated and bit the ever-loving crap right out of you. And she was a gorgeous cat. She had green-yellow eyes and a little of that double-thick coat over her shoulders that Russian Blues get. She had tiny feet and the shortest tail of any cat I ever had except Twindle, who lost hers in a battle with space Mongols or something. And she had the longest whiskers of any cat I ever knew.
She was a good auntie to the kittens, when we had them. She was a pretty rotten friend to Etrigan, but she still washed his ears, and he genuinely didn't seem to care about being bitten as long as he could nuzzle her fat belly.
She was not my cat, she was Sargon's cat. She slept with him and went to him for affection and pestered and farted on him, mostly, if she was going to do it to anyone. I'm really, really sorry he's lost her.
The other cats were called in and shown. Smooch and Sif know, but are just trucking along like normal. Etrigan was upset, though. He usually looks like he doesn't understand - I've met rubber bands smarter than this cat - but this was a different kind of doesn't understand. He looked hurt, and scared, and haunted. He fell asleep in my arms while we went to bed last night, and slept with me all night, right up against me or on my legs, something he has never before done. He was really upset this morning, just hunching into himself and in general acting like he was really cold, which is cat for "in pain," whether emotional or physical. We had company today, and he was played with and had some treats, and he's feeling so much better. I finally got a purr out of him around five. He has an Etch-A-Sketch for a brain, which works mostly in his favor. Nothing troubles him for long. We should all be so lucky.
I've been scarce lately anyway, so I don't know that this will affect things more than they have already been affected, but . . . I don't know that it won't.
Because I don't want to end on a down note, I will simply say that Fish made the best crazy faces I have ever seen on a cat. This was my favorite, from the day she caught her one and only mouse.
I . . . I actually think that picture sums her up pretty well, if you imagine cat farts and then sudden shrieking.
I will miss her.
Comment amnesty is declared: I will be reading, but maybe not replying. I'm very tired. A certain black cat kept waking me up so I got very little sleep!
Have a safe holiday weekend, if this is a holiday weekend for you. Love your pets and your people.
X-posted from Dreamwidth. Comment count: