Lucy: 1997 - 2012
Lucy: 1997 - 2012
Lucy (The Love Kitty) and her brother Linus were brought to me in 1997 as 6 month old kittens to babysit, while a PFC sent his wife back home to the States (she was pregnant and not sponsored for Korea) and moved back on base. He was going to pick them up and send them back in a couple of months. He never came back for them.
When she first arrived, Lucy established herself as the Love Kitty by insisting on sleeping in the bed, cuddled up to me when I slept on my right side. She would then curve herself into my armpit and put her head on my arm and purr. She did this pretty much for her entire life, and as she grew, she found she enjoyed spooning even more when she had the top of her head against my nose. She would even reach up with a paw and gram my nostril and pull it down to her head if I wasn't in the right position. When she wasn't spooning, she would flip the other way and knead on me. she was a total love.
She also loved her brother, Linus, a lot.
Lucy was a beautiful cat with asymmetrical markings.
Like all cats, Lucy enjoyed taking naps:
On beds:
On scanners:
With the other kitties:
When we first brought Achilles home, Lucy was NOT thrilled.
It took awhile, but Lucy went from anger to indifference. In fact, she was more or less indifferent to the other cats, except her brother Linus, for the most part. But if they caught her at the right time:
And of course, the bed seemed to become a neutral ground over time.
Lucy also found my computer equipment a great place to hang out:
In 2010, Lucy became very ill. She spent 6 weeks in an intensive care unit near Seoul with liver failure. This was shortly after Flea passed away. We never found out what caused it, but she wasn't quite the same after. For a couple of months after she came home, we hand-fed her, and she slowly improved, although her mouth hurt, and the vets said she had some kind of viral infection that never went away. It didn't stop her from cuddling at night, and she was tough enough not to complain. We would alternate antibiotics, diet, and painkillers (if needed), and she would perk up for awhile. She eventually got back top eating on her own, although we had to switch from the kibble that she loved to softer food. She would frequently eat from the kibble bowl, and work the crunchies slowly until she could swallow it.
When Linus passed away last year, Lucy was lost. She clung to Brenda and myself even harder, and didn't want much to do with the other cats. Except for Spot, when we brought him home, for some reason. All she lived for was cuddling with us at night, and when we brought Spot home, she allowed him to fuss over her.
After Achilles passed away, even though she never liked him much, Lucy started to decline. She lost weight, and we had to go back to feeding her. Age had caught up with her, and her race was about done. We brought her in to the vet, who confirmed she had arthritis in her joints, and she wasn't taking in the nutrition anymore. We started giving her subcutaneous fluids with vitamins, and that helped for a little bit.
Then Smokey passed away last week, shockingly. Lucy actually perked up for a couple of days, sensing our distress, and she put on a brave show for the remainder of the week through the weekend. But this morning, the small peak from her effort ebbed, and we knew that it was time. She was very shaky, and her body temperature started dropping. The fluids given her this morning didn't help much, and by 5PM, we knew it was time. We broght her back to the vet, and she gave Lucy the final shot. It was hard to find a good vein, but the vet found one, and Lucy actually look relieved and let go quickly and quietly while we said our goodbyes. She had given all her love, and the well was finally empty.
I know Lucy has finally joined her brother again, and they are together snuggling each other. We will miss her tremendously.
This has been a very sad week as we lost one of the youngest, and the oldest of our gang. I really hope we are done with the sadness for awhile.