Noki ei enää sanonut kurnau/Noki no longer said "kurnau."

[snowgrouse]

(English translation underneath; this theme of the kurnau was something I thought I would write the day she would finally no longer say kurnau. Now the day has come, and so has the--disjointed, but necessary--piece of writing. It was originally in Finnish in my head, so that's why the Finnish comes first

Comments

[spacefall]

I'm so sorry this time had to come. Farewell to your beautiful and beloved Noki.

[snowgrouse]

She'd been steadily declining during her last two years, and I was always stressed for her--you know that whole worrying about whether a cat's in pain or unhappy because they can't articulate it the same way humans do. But I'd had this thing you see in the post above in my mind from as early on as I'd just got her--she was always so talkative by cat standards that I knew that when the kurnaus would go, that'd mean she was going, too. For the past year or so, the kurnaus dwindled and half of them turned into confused vocalisations at night, but she was still happy and purrity most of the time (once you just reminded her of where she was and cuddled her, she became so happy she could purr for an entire hour straight!) and the vet found nothing wrong with her apart from the dementia and the asthma we could ameliorate with medications. But the decline she had in the past week or so was so rapid and she couldn't even purr without great effort, so... yeah. It was time to say goodbye. At least she didn't have to be in pain for too long. And

[vilakins]

[wipes eyes again]

I always thought from your posts that "kurnau" was Finnish for cat. Maybe it;s a bit like the "ngau" or "now!" Claudia used to say,

[snowgrouse]

I always used "a kurnau" as "a cat" for lols, so that was just me, not Finnish:) ("Kissa" would be "cat" in Finnish; I think we get that via Russian.) Kurnau was my equivalent of the Egyptians having called them Mau--the cats naming themselves. In Noki's case, she just never used the ordinary meaows or maus or other vocalisations like that (until she got too old to talk all that much); it was always kurrurks and rurrurks and urks, but mostly the KURNAU

[vilakins]

Ah, ignore my previous comment about kurnaus; I should read all the replies before leaping in. I know that in Russian, cat is koshka, and I think it's something similar in Czech.

Ashley doesn't say words like Noki and Claudia, but I do love her little squeaks and dove-like trills, and even Sebastian's "Feed me now!", though annoying, I'd miss.

Sometimes people don't want another cat because it won't fill the gap, but the things is, another one will fill a new one. They never replace (not for me, anyway) but are their own selves to be loved in a different way. I hope you find a cat or a cat finds you (often the way it works).

Re males, neutered ones are often calmer and friendlier than females; I'd never have a tom. Sebastian is the youngest of my lot, but the girls are much bouncier; he just snuggle with me all day if he could. They're all different though; there'll be one for you.

[therru]

*weeps*

[snowgrouse]

*piles you with kurnaus*