be kind to animals

We’re being kind to each other. This is Lucy. Tomorrow will be her one week anniversary as my snorgle-monster. I love her to bits.

I always thought people were making things up when they said their cat chose them, but now I’m a believer. She picked me. I knew it right away and even the woman at the shelter was surprised when it happened. Lucy knew what she was doing because she is being spoiled rotten and she is exactly what I was looking for. She spent six months at the shelter being passed over. I think she was just waiting for me to hurry up and get there.

It was cancer. My heart is broken into a million little pieces because she’s gone.

I’m now giving her subQ fluids twice a day. She had an anti-emetic shot yesterday and still threw up three times. I took a bunch of pictures, but in all of them she looks like a shadow of her former self. I wish I knew what was wrong. Her bloodwork came back normal yesterday, but she’s much sicker than she was seven weeks ago when it was abnormal.

I’m angry that I have to work and do homework when I really want to hold her and try to implant as many lasting memories as I can. How her whole body rumbles when she purrs, how soft her fur is, especially her pale kissy-spot on top of her head against my lips, the smell of her kitty breath and the feel of the rough pads on her tiny, perfect feet. She went from being my youngest cat to my only cat. I’m not ready for her to leave me.

My kitty is nearing the end. She still purrs and cuddles but she’s getting slow and I can tell she feels a little sick to her stomach. We have an appointment Monday, but I may have to take her in today since she isn’t eating. She stopped eating the prescription food after about two weeks and since then I’ve been trying to tempt her with whatever I can. I’ll try chicken baby food again today and see if it helps.

I’ve been so busy the past couple weeks and I’ve been sick myself, so we haven’t cuddled as much as I would like. I’m going to love her to bits while I still can.

My little girl has kidney failure. I’m going to do what I can to slow the progression and take care of her. We’ll re-test in six weeks and see if we’ve been able to keep her steady.

I’m not ready to lose her. She’s been getting lots of healing kisses and tempting treats. She had always been a chubby cat and now she’s only seven and a half pounds. She can afford a few extra calories, especially if they make her happy.

My 15-year old kitty hasn’t been herself lately. I took her to the vet last night and had some tests run. They sent them out to a better lab so they could get an expanded test. I’ll know more tomorrow but I’ve been worrying. I’ve kissed the top of her head so much she’s going to have a bald spot.

Tonight she’s had chicken baby food for a treat and we’re going to snuggle and watch a movie. The video store was having a “Curl up with that special someone” rental special and she’s my someone special.

I went to the yard waste center tonight to dump a garbage can of weeds. It’s on the other side of the highway in a marshy area near the Bay. On my way back, I took a right turn down a dead end road instead of a left towards home. I was thinking I might find a possible new place to walk my dog.

I didn’t find a new trail, but I did see something small and black in the road. As I pulled closer, I could see it was a cat, crouching very still. When I hopped out, it turned its head to look at me and a cloud of flies rose around it. I couldn’t leave it there so I ran back to the car, grabbed the garbage can and my gloves and went back to the cat. It walked into the tipped garbage can without fuss and crouched again in the bottom. I raced home as fast as I could.

Now the little kitty is in a cat carrier in my basement with a little water and some canned food. I have a cat so I need to keep them well separated. It’s terrible that this happened on a Sunday night because the cat really needs to see a vet. It is skin and bones and cries when I pick it up. After it drank some water, I had to move the dish because it looked like it would fall asleep with it’s head in the water.

It’s going to the Humane Society tomorrow in hopes that they can help it. The poor little thing reminds me so much of one of my old cats. I had to do something to help it. The thing that makes me feel sick at heart is that this road is a pretty good distance from any homes. I have a strong suspicion that someone decided to dump this cat when they didn’t want it anymore.

The weirdest part of this story is that I had a strong sudden urge to go to the yard waste center. And on the way home, I had a strong urge to turn right. It’s about to storm and I’ve never gone down that road before, although I’ve been past it many times. What made me want to turn?

Update: I made some calls and ended up taking the kitty to the Emergency Vet Clinic. They took one look and made the decision to euthanize. I expected it because the first thing I thought when I saw the cat was that I had to help put it out of its misery. It wouldn’t eat and stretched on its side breathing in little rasps and crying. I did what I could to help it and now there’s a new little angel tonight.

I’m still working on this goal, of course, but this was a start.