Farewell...
So, on Monday we took the Mighty Mighty Mynx(TM) to the vet, and she did not return. The lump that the vet felt in her abdomen turned out to be a tumour in her bowel, which had obstructed it, and caused a big hair ball to build up. There was rupture, and infection, and she had not been getting enough food for a while. It is probable that the problems we saw in her at the end of last year might have been related, but the vet said there was nothing else we could realistically have done - cutting her open because she was over-washing her ankles was not a sensible course of action.
This does not in any way make her passing easier, especially as it seemed so sudden. Last Friday she was looking very weak, we took her to the vet on Saturday and Sunday, and then on Monday, she was gone. I knew she'd been getting on - she was 13 after all, but we had hoped for at least another 5 years. Now the house is horribly empty, despite the fact she was just one of the three occupants, and we don't know quite what to do with ourselves.
We met the Mighty Mighty Mynx(TM) six days after our wedding. That was how long it took us to realise that our home needed a cat. As this was the first time I was getting a cat as a grown up (well, I was married, so that must mean, on one level, I was grown up!) I had done some reading - I can't remember where. One of the things recommended was getting the most active kitten in the litter. Well, that was all very well, but it turns out that the third week in February is not the time to go looking for kittens. We hunted across the city, rejecting all the kittens at one pet-shop, and the only other place which had kittens was out in Botany - about fifty minutes from where we lived. So, we went there, and there was this tiny black-and-white kitten jumping up and down on another kitten's head. We knew immediately that we belonged to her, and so took her home. On the drive home, her name was made known to us, and we were totally under the kitten's paw.
From her first forays, Mynx was a mighty hunter, proudly bringing home pebbles, leaves, and an empty snail shell before she graduated to insects and mice. She was not a very friendly cat to other people - as any of our friends will attest to - but with us she was a total sook. Oh, wait, no she wasn't. She was domineering, bossy, and wanted things on her terms. She would demand that a human would sit and provide a lap, and would then curl up purring in said lap. But woe betide you if you didn't stroke her the requisite number of times.
Different humans had different roles. During the day, she would go and get Zcatcurious from his office at the other end house, to pat her while she ate, despite the fact I was in the same room as her food bowl. I, on the other hand, was the night-time human, and Mynx would meow or murp at me until I got up to pat her while drinking in the middle of the night. (Probably because Zcc wouldn't wake up - so she was being even in her demands of us, as far as she was concerned.) At one point, I was developing a severe sleep deficit, but if we shut the bedroom door, she would scratch it (and we're renting) and if I ignored her, she'd just _keep_ going. Eventually, I trained her out of it by calmly and quietly getting up and putting her outside when she woke me up - and as this was the middle of (a very mild) winter, she did learn not to wake me up. For a bit.
If we went outside, Mynx would accompany us. If she'd been out, when she returned, she'd visit both of us, to let us know it was okay, and she was still keeping the elephants away. Strangely, we never had any problems with elephants while she was with us. We had 13 lovely years living with a fantastic kitten, and it often surprised me that she chose to live with us. We were never in any doubt that she loved us, and I think she knew that we loved her. I just wish we had had more time.
Rest in peace, precious kitty, and I hope Heaven was ready for you. Angels are not for eating.
This does not in any way make her passing easier, especially as it seemed so sudden. Last Friday she was looking very weak, we took her to the vet on Saturday and Sunday, and then on Monday, she was gone. I knew she'd been getting on - she was 13 after all, but we had hoped for at least another 5 years. Now the house is horribly empty, despite the fact she was just one of the three occupants, and we don't know quite what to do with ourselves.
We met the Mighty Mighty Mynx(TM) six days after our wedding. That was how long it took us to realise that our home needed a cat. As this was the first time I was getting a cat as a grown up (well, I was married, so that must mean, on one level, I was grown up!) I had done some reading - I can't remember where. One of the things recommended was getting the most active kitten in the litter. Well, that was all very well, but it turns out that the third week in February is not the time to go looking for kittens. We hunted across the city, rejecting all the kittens at one pet-shop, and the only other place which had kittens was out in Botany - about fifty minutes from where we lived. So, we went there, and there was this tiny black-and-white kitten jumping up and down on another kitten's head. We knew immediately that we belonged to her, and so took her home. On the drive home, her name was made known to us, and we were totally under the kitten's paw.
From her first forays, Mynx was a mighty hunter, proudly bringing home pebbles, leaves, and an empty snail shell before she graduated to insects and mice. She was not a very friendly cat to other people - as any of our friends will attest to - but with us she was a total sook. Oh, wait, no she wasn't. She was domineering, bossy, and wanted things on her terms. She would demand that a human would sit and provide a lap, and would then curl up purring in said lap. But woe betide you if you didn't stroke her the requisite number of times.
Different humans had different roles. During the day, she would go and get Zcatcurious from his office at the other end house, to pat her while she ate, despite the fact I was in the same room as her food bowl. I, on the other hand, was the night-time human, and Mynx would meow or murp at me until I got up to pat her while drinking in the middle of the night. (Probably because Zcc wouldn't wake up - so she was being even in her demands of us, as far as she was concerned.) At one point, I was developing a severe sleep deficit, but if we shut the bedroom door, she would scratch it (and we're renting) and if I ignored her, she'd just _keep_ going. Eventually, I trained her out of it by calmly and quietly getting up and putting her outside when she woke me up - and as this was the middle of (a very mild) winter, she did learn not to wake me up. For a bit.
If we went outside, Mynx would accompany us. If she'd been out, when she returned, she'd visit both of us, to let us know it was okay, and she was still keeping the elephants away. Strangely, we never had any problems with elephants while she was with us. We had 13 lovely years living with a fantastic kitten, and it often surprised me that she chose to live with us. We were never in any doubt that she loved us, and I think she knew that we loved her. I just wish we had had more time.
Rest in peace, precious kitty, and I hope Heaven was ready for you. Angels are not for eating.