There is a cat living in the apartment above me and I smile when I hear the galloping feet across the length of their apartment; made by excited pussy toes galloping behind or ahead of their person toward the food dish spot in the kitchen. Then I hear the dish plonk on the floor and feeties stop –contented.
My two “boys” Winston and Marty passed away this past year; Marty in the spring and Winston in the fall, this was my first Christmas without them in 17 years. I had some sad moments. My spirits have been steadily improving with time, but there are always triggers that can bring laughter or tears. The more distance I have from the actual events, the better I get at forming a more complete perspective. Handling loss is tough –and I wish we were all born with a better idea of how to handle it. I received so much joy from them. I find my self hoping that they both knew how much they were loved. They really made my apartment a home.
I’ve been consumed with the act of learning to live without them in my life and so –I have not blogged. It was too difficult to write about my feelings of loss at the time. I’d like to let my fellow animal lovers know that when the time came that they had to go both were assisted by a veterinarian that came to my home. This was immensely important to me. Cats in particular are usually very disturbed with car rides and vet clinic visits. Both my kitties were very ill in the last moments and it was enormous comfort to have them here in their own home, with me, in my arms, at the end.
I like it when you talk about your cats. I actually found your blog while looking for cat food recipes, because my cat Patchie has diabetes and we can’t afford the catfood the vet thinks he needs.
We lost our yellow cat, Sammy, two years ago. Today we were talking about him. He had a big personality, for such a small creature. (He was always the boss here, of our 3 cats.) He was our outdoor kitty and I still miss him coming to the car to greet us, when we get home.
Cats have so much dignity. It is impossible not to respect them–and miss them, when they are gone.