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I'll preface by saying I've read every loving tribute in this thread, and have teared up more than once seeing the love represented between ourselves and our (usually) furry companions. I also knew that a day would soon come to talk about losing my own. If you've been a frequent visitor to these forums, especially on Desktop, you've seen Shadow before. That's her on the left:  My fiancee and I had been living together in our first apartment for about a year in Florida when on one of our frequent walks around the neighborhood, there was a rustling in the bushes and out popped a plump tabby, her tail high in the air and she immediately began rubbing up against our legs. Some people let their cats wander the neighborhood and we assumed this was no different. She followed us around a little bit and got plenty of pets and skritches before we said our goodbyes and went back inside. Over the coming days we kept running into her, and began to notice she was starting to lose weight. She was barrel chested, built to be an absolute roly-poly so we became a bit concerned that she was slowly becoming more emaciated. We also noticed she was missing one of her fangs, but she didn't seem to mind none. We bought some cheapo cat food and put some outside for her to see if she wanted any. This is the oldest photo I have of her, from September 2006:  One night we heard a catfight outside and a day or so later we found Miss roly-poly, still as friendly as ever but now with a noticeable abscess on her forehead. We knew she wasn't supposed to be outside, and brought her in. "Found Cat" flyers went around the neighborhood, and her abscess wasn't healing. She may have been really lost. We took her to the shelter where they quickly determined she was microchipped and spayed. They'd take care of her abscess and track down her owner. At my fiancee's behest I said that if for any reason they couldn't find her owner, we wanted first dibs at adopting her. They said if they didn't call back, it meant she was reunited with her owner. A week went by. Then two. Then three. My fiancee was in tears, having become so quickly attached to the cat. I assured her it must have meant she was back at the home she was meant to be. Then right around Halloween I got a call from the shelter. They had a cat whose owner refused to claim her and my number was there as a possible adoptee. Did I still want her? Hell yes. I paid the adoption fees and brought her home the next day. As soon as she was home and out of the box she saw me, and started purring right away. She had such a loud purr, one you could hear across the room. She hopped up on the couch and immediately fell asleep. Occasionally that first night she'd squeal and wake up, a nightmare that she was back at the shelter. But she looked around, saw me, purred, and fell back to sleep. She was back at the home she was meant to be.  We named her Shadow, because she would follow us around everywhere we went in those days and was soon back to being a plump, fat and happy kitty. A few years in a rambunctious kitten named Ponyo joined the family and Shadow. Absolutely. HATED. Her. Clearly she was happy as three-person family unit, and the fuzzy interloper who always wanted to pounce on her was a mortal enemy. Eventually she learned to... tolerate Ponyo, but it became clear she wanted nothing to do with any other cats in the household. I'd come to learn she had separation anxiety for obvious reasons, and the occasional panic attack would see her howling around the apartment, peeing and pooping indiscriminately. Sometimes just holding her closely would calm her down and her purrs would begin anew. She had health problems almost from the get-go. While the missing tooth didn't bother her none, we found she suffered from bladder crystals and was moved to a prescription urinary SO diet. As the years went by, so too did her health problems worsen. Hyperthyroidism meant she got pills twice a day (crushing them up and sprinkling them on her food helped). But then around 2015 we got news she had begun to go into renal failure. It was still early and switching her diet again made sure the process could be managed. But Shadow was beginning to drop weight again, her once bright coat became unkempt, and she just started slowing down in general. We don't know how old she was, but it was probably late 2001 to 2003. Health problems mounted and we started having semi-regular scares that she may not bounce back. Megacolon. Pancreatitis. Heart disease. And yet somehow she did, every time. She became a bit more ornary in her old age, but one thing that never faltered was her love and trust in my now-wife and I. When COVID hit and I began working from home, it was a bit of a blessing as it meant I could easily keep Shadow on a reliable medication regime but also the chair next to my computer desk became her de-facto bed, and she would sleep alongside me while I worked every day, occasionally wanting to hop in my lap for pets (often during Zoom calls).  We knew she was on borrowed time, but it still was so sudden. On Thursday I noticed she was having some difficulty walking before having to rest, often on the floor. A day later she stopped eating and drinking. I took her to the animal hospital where they found her kidney failure had gotten significantly worse. It's a balancing act, trying to keep the kidneys flush with fluid, which can damage her heart which was being treated with blood pressure medication. I took her back home and hoped an appetite stimulant would help improve her condition. She sat down on the couch and didn't move from her spot. She went back tonight, and they could hear some fluid in her lungs. Since she was barely drinking and not eating at all and she had lost control of her bladder function. I knew it was time. Prolonging it would mean she'd only suffer more. But I still have immediate regrets. I wish I had one more day with Shadow. She found us 14 years ago and brought so much joy and happiness in our home. My eyes hurt from crying as I type this obituary, feet away from the chair beside my computer where she should be sleeping. My wife said Shadow's returned to be one with the universe. I remain behind in hell.  https://twitter.com/NewsFedora/status/1295161897231187968 Ballz fucked around with this message at 05:00 on Aug 17, 2020 |
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Aug 17, 2020 04:56
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| # ¿ May 8, 2024 21:56 |
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