Hi all,
 
First off I'd just like to say thanks to those who have recently offered
advice and help on our landlord situation, but yesterday I took a real
emotional blow when my oldest girl, Cricket crossed the rainbow bridge with
a little help...
 
Last November her Insulinoma was seen to be at such a point that she was
expected to only see 3 or, at most 4 months of life.  She finally passed
the point of no return some 9 months later.  There have been a couple times
since last November that I was certain the end was near, but with a lot of
extra attention and very little sleep on my part she bounced back from each
of them.  This time, though, she just continued to get worse.  Finally she
was at a point where she was unable to use her rear legs, had no ability to
control her bowels or bladder and was very unaware of her surroundings.  We
made the dreaded trip to the vet on Sunday morning where they helped her on
her way across the bridge...
 
She was one of my original pair of fuzzies and has been with me for the
last 8 years.  I find myself just staring at the separate cage we had moved
her into on Friday night to better monitor her condition expecting to see
her little pink nose poke out from under the towels when it catches my
scent...Even Percival, in his hormone induced rambunctiousness, was quiet
all weekend as if he sensed that the end was nearing for Cricket.
 
George was wonderful this morning and seemed to detect my morose mood and
well nigh demanded that I let him into the bedroom this morning where he
made it a point to follow me around and shadow my every move to keep me
from being alone.  I honestly don't know if that was his real motive, but
I like to think that it was...
 
About the only thing I can think about the whole thing was that I at least
had 8 years of joy from her company.  Loki (the other from my original
pair) died at 4.5 years.  It still doesn't seem quite real yet, and
probably won't for another few days.  I know for some time I will panic
when I can initially only find two fuzzies in the cage until my brain
comes to grips with everything...
 
Thanks for listening...
 
Butch
Zoe, Percival and George the Cat
[Posted in FML issue 3151]