Goodbye, my little friend

My cat died yesterday. It was quite scary for me because it happened unexpectedly. Sweet One was napping and I sat on the couch. He walked on my lap and then I decided to get up and wrap some presents. I was sitting on the living room floor and within minutes I heard him fall off the back of the couch and when I rushed over to him he was making strange sounds and not responding to me calling his name. I kept calling his name, over and over, hoping he'd wake up. (Thankfully Sweet One chose this afternoon to have a decent nap so she was sleeping while I was freaking out.)(Also, our contractor had gone to get supplies so that was nice, too!) Amidst my flood of tears I called the vet and they said I needed to bring him in. I was terrified to touch him. I called Big Love at a restaurant he was at for his staff Christmas lunch and he got home as soon as he could, wrapped him up and put him in the carrier so I could take him to the vet. I said goodbye to him and he looked very peaceful. Gave him a few kisses on the head and petted him. Thanked him for being such a good little friend to me over the years. (When Sweet One woke up she said "dat" a few times and has been looking around for him.) The vet said it was probably a heart thing that happens to older cats and they can't detect with the stethoscope, only an autopsy. We had been anticipating not too much more time with him as his kidneys had started to fail but I did not expect it to happen at home. The day before I bought treats for his Christmas stocking. I am thankful that he didn't suffer at all.

I knew it would be hard to lose my little companion but I never imagined it would be as hard as it is. LM Montgomery spoke of her cats in her journals and many of her stories had cats who played very important roles for the heroines. There was a time in my life where that did not make sense to me as I've never been a cat person. I considered myself only a "my cat" person. His little spirit was so affectionate and quirky enchanted me. I loved my little cat and he was a kindred spirit of mine on four legs. He was with me, often crawled up on my chest, stomach or legs, through some very dark and lonely times. I've had him around for 8 years. And I still expect him to crawl up on my lap as I sit here and type.

My petit chat noir

nce I rescued him from the streets, I've often worried about my cat more than some people would (but also less than others, too). For the past two weeks I've been a little preoccupied with the findings in his litter box. We got to the vet on Monday and they sent in a complete blood panel to basically give us an overall view of what is going on in his body.

I've been feeling awful because he has not been getting as much attention as I would like - and some of the attention he has been getting was me being pissed off because I was stressed out. This is understandable with a baby in the house, I know. But I do feel bad about it. I became scared that I was going to have to make the decision about whether or not we deal with what is going on or just put him down. After all he is a pet and our bank accounts do not overflow with money. I came close to crying a couple times. He's been such a good cat to me for almost 9 years. The idea of putting him down sucks. Sweet One adores him even though he only tolerates her!

Luckily, at this point we do not have to make any decisions other than to change his food. This will help to manage his early kidney failure which, thanks to my worrying, we have caught early enough that it isn't dire. Already he had been on a 'prescription diet' but now we need a different (and more expensive) one. Should things get worse then we will have to re-evaluate. But for now, I'm going to search online and see if I can find his new food at a cheaper price.

Teething Poop

It's been an interesting few days here at Le Nest. Teething began last week. Of course I had no idea what was going on when I had a fussy and crying Sweet One as opposed to the Sweet One who only cries when she is hungry or her father is putting her to sleep. I learned that teething was happening once the first one was already out. HELLO! Why can't we know ahead of time so that the necessary aids in helping to soothe our children can be at hand? Number two is on its way. I just finished putting her down for a nap and just like at 10:30 last night, she screamed bloody murder. This is SO rare for her. Seriously. No bragging, just tellin' ya it is because when she does scream like this I really know something is up. So the homeopathics seemed to help but my ears are ringing even though she is sleeping. Oh. That's the neighborkid blowing his whistle? Remind me NEVER. EVER. to buy any child a whistle. So tooth number two is close to its own cotillion and then the rest. Is it normal to get a new tooth per week? Why is there no blood when these teeth push through?

And to make matters much more wonderful my cat is not doing well. Without too much disgusting detail, I've been checking his litterbox dailing to monitor the state of his poop and today we went to the vet where they ordered a full blood panel. I hope we caught something soon enough because if anything is excessively expensive (this trip would have had me crying if it got any more expensive) to deal with what is going on we may have to look at alternatives. Never thought I'd be so invested in poop! Not just a baby's, but a cat's, too!