I haven't forgotten my gratitude list
I just got sidetracked and busy. But, I'm keeping mental score.
First, the story of the outside "mama" cat. And maybe I'll do the gratitude thing tomorrow.
Although, this is sort of a combination post (ultimately).
Minnie is still missing. She is the mom of the little black kitten I was taking care of last year, who died of feline aids/feline respiratory disease, and Lillie (my "kitten" who is the size of a small giraffe, and--is also FIV positive, per the vet visit when she was spayed). I am pretty sure the entire little cat family, in the backyard, had some sort of disease they were all passing to each other. But, I had Minnie spayed before Daisy died, and before Lillie was old enough to be spayed herself. I just wanted the madness to end. At that time, Minnie only had one kitten at a time, but that said quite a lot about her internal state. Cats don't normally have one-kitten litters. And she had three kittens in a year. One at a time. The first, was deformed and died very quickly. I never actually saw it but my neighbor said it didn't have all its limbs and she found it dead on the driveway.
In any case, that's all background. Minnie, once she got passed her annoyance with me for kidnapping her, spaying her, and keeping her in my warm living room, in the lap of kitty luxury, once again joined her family and began trusting me again. And I took good care of her. She was actually pretty healthy. But, in the last couple of weeks, she had the respiratory thing again. She's had on and off bouts of it. I went and got medicine for her and her brother/sister, Harley (I've assumed "he" was a he because he's never had babies. I kind of think I'm wrong even though I never got close enough to know for sure. I just don't see anything there when she has lifted a leg to clean herself;-) She even in this he/she post, I'm not certain.
Anyway...one more tangent and I'm going to kick myself--I got Minnie some vitamin supplement that seemed to help a lot last year. And she was eating it, along with the other two cats out there (Harley and the Daddy-cat, Papa Peach). And ...maybe last Monday or Tuesday? I don't remember--I looked out the window and saw that Minnie's face looked funny. She was a lovely black cat. Small face. Beautiful light yellow eyes. Now, her face looked like one of those dogs from the Target ads? The ones that don't seem to have definition between the forehead and the bridge of the nose, which makes them look a little cross-eyed? Like that. Anyway, I thought I was seeing things. So, I went outside and she had a definite lump there. No sign of injury. And when I touched her, she didn't seem to be in pain. So, we continued the way we were. I assumed it was, perhaps, a sinus blockage that just got really gross and clogged.
By Thursday, she was not showing up anymore. Friday--nothing. Saturday, I went to Atlantic City with my mom but fed them before I left--Harley and Papa were there, Minnie--no. Same thing when I got back and took the flashlight to the backyard. On Sunday, Harley met me at the front door and meowed at me. Harley hardly ever meows. And I just kind of thought...this is really not good. I looked it up on the net. That could very well be a nasal cancer. But, it's almost a secondary cancer that comes after the bone behind it has been effected. No life expectancy. They can have seizures, pain, and then simply stop breathing. IF that's what she has/had, I hope she went somewhere and died peacefully. I have not found her. My neighbors haven't either. It's just not like her not to be here. And we thought about Halloweeen--but, generally speaking, those cats are VERY smart, and have ample hiding places. And, also generally speaking (because, with the two-legged variety of life-forms, you just never know) the neighborhood kids are not that cruel. And frankly, there aren't that many of them. We live on a block with more old folk than young.
So, I'm kind of sad about that. She was a lovely girl and I wish she would have liked her stay here inside. She was miserable. Never left the bottom of my china closet for the week she was here. She loved her kitty family so much. I will never forget the moment she "gave" me Lillie. I was trying to give Daisy her medicine and Minnie took the one or two week old Lillie and took her by the scruff and laid her by my feet. Her little face and meow was saying "here, take her and leave me the black one." I told her she could have both. Later,I took her up on the offer of Lillie. It was the right thing to do, even though it broke my heart to break up that little family.
Anyway, it all sounds goofy now. But, if Minnie is alive, I hope she shows up soon. If not, well...I hope she went peacefully and is romping with her little Daisy somewhere soft and warm and lovely. And I hope they can both breathe freely.
My neighbor said to me, today, that it "doesn't pay" to love these cats so much. Not that that will stop her. But, I think she's wrong. It pays, even though sometimes, it hurts, too. It's life.