"Good Bye, Sweet Precious"

The love in my life has died. She was my 'just a cat'. Her daily perilous drop in weight, in recent weeks, from her evil hyperthyroid disease, coupled with issues of internal bleeding - gums and bladder - dramatic loss of critical fatty tissue and potassium while losing valuable body temperature made my decision an 'easy' one. Her doctor's look ended any optimism I might have had.

The morning began as usual with her jump on to the floor looking for fresh water, in her two ceramic bowls. Her habit of moving these troughs, in miniature, while testing the water with her tiny paw made it a messy place, daily. In her carpeted room, decorative place mats adorned her eating area. Her stainless steel bowl had been replaced with a newly bought ceramic 'sink', a heavy container that was  virtually immovable. A dipping bowl of Greek yogurt began her morning ritual most mornings.

She drank often while making her water 'cloudy'. This was not good, I knew. Why now, though? During nighttime, she would munch on her prescribed dry food which always gave me hope. But she took too long to eat her soft foods. These tender morsels ended up in her water, hence another round of ongoing fresh cold water, otherwise known as room service. A long walk to the 'toilette' to see her dad, that day, was her final visit, a peaceful end on a journey punctuated with a mother's love. I miss my enigmatic kitty. She had been a loving addition to our family.

From the beginning, Tiggy had a fighting spirit. But that quality could mask her suffering, too. In the end, her tenacity had worn out its welcome. Her suffering was now up close and personal. We could no longer hope for life. Her meds had become a burden to administer as she could not swallow easily. Her cloudy water bowls gave clear evidence of that. Her body was a fraction of its former self, a skeletal frame 'adorned' with a thin layer of skin. She had stamina so characteristic of my family. She finally earned the right to die.

My life has a large chunk missing from it now. After finding her - 16 years earlier - on the shoulder in -25 weather, my life would never be the same. I was about to fall into love with a snappy little girl. She had 'spoken' to me that frigidly cold morning. As I drove by I looked down and there she was, a screaming lump of 'dirty snow' grasping at life and breath. Shock enveloped me. I now had a life long duty to this furry bundle from the road. How could anyone do such a thing? But the planet is full of horrible people doing all sorts of despicable things to oh so innocent animals of every kind. The online world attests to the horrors of animal abuse. Our Tiggy was found, just in time, half an hour before her death. I saw and listened. A real love story began.

Over the years, she would enter the room of our two retrievers only to be greeted by a cacophony of jumps and barks. Her visits seemed to say, “ I live upstairs guys. Would you like to play with me?” Not really they would reply. ... Upon entering, she would linger, on occasion, then sneak a drink from their large water bowl, the size of a small sink, big enough in which to bathe - for her. Was their well water better, she mused? 

 

Comparisons were important to her. She ran outside, one morning, then was noticed hours later on the kitchen balcony. I remembered thinking how beautiful this 'stray' was until I noticed it up close. It looked alot like ours! I opened the doors to let her in while watching this blur run past me, upstairs, to the place she'd called home for many years. Outside was better, from a safe distance, she now realized. In that moment, I knew she was mine.

In her golden years, we'd meet and nap together in her room on a bunk bed. She welcomed the company. I did, too! She'd sleep in the crook of my knees and stay there till it was time for me to go. She liked it that way. Resting her small head near the Himalayan floor salt lamp made her feel safe and secure, too. An outstretched paw and gentle head always told me she was near. A magnet cover beneath her special bed helped in her comfort and healing. All in all, everything humanely possible and available, that made sense, was tried. We all deserve that.

Her entry into life was a loathsome event. But she would leave it surrounded by love - from all corners! Someone hated this innocent beautiful newborn, weighing less than two pounds, that fateful morning. Both sides of humanity were on display, vividly, that day. My side won that debate and a wonderful life was lived and loved. Vivid memories and a lasting heartache now remain.