The saddest things......

[jvd]

heh my sisters cats aren't fun . One pees on my bed and the other trys to get my fish. Plus i'm allergic . But i'm really sorry your cat isn't doing well and she will be in my thoughts.

I am massively allergic to cats. Just had my first asthma attack in years Friday night after stopping by a friend's house who had recently acquired a new pet (unbeknownst to me).

Yeah, some people shouldn't have kids either (this is a general observation, not meant to be specific to yourself), but doesn't seem to stop many of them.

geo wtf are you talking about .



On a lighter note my father has caved in and got us a dog. Since this thread has started I've been watching way to many old videos and now he wants a dog . So the dog is at my house . Right now i'm at the shore house. My little sister says he bites to much though.

 

[Natoma]

On a lighter note my father has caved in and got us a dog. Since this thread has started I've been watching way to many old videos and now he wants a dog . So the dog is at my house . Right now i'm at the shore house. My little sister says he bites to much though.

 

[Natoma]

Our 18.5 year old Siamese, Ember, is getting there. The litterbox stuff, the walking sideways and tenderly. Not good signs.

We've had her about 5 years longer (so far) than we thought we might. She had breast cancer back then, and we paid to have it cleaned out. Wasn't sure she would survive the surgery, but she did, and was back to her old self.

Going to be very hard on my wife when Ember goes, as she's had her longer than she's had me. Our younger Siamese, Mysha, is going to be rough too, as she has thought that Ember is her mama cat since that day 8 years ago when we brought her home, and follows her pretty much everywhere.

The only thing I know to help getting over the loss is to get another kitten as soon as you can bear to stand the thot. Preferably two, as two kittens are about 10 times as much fun as one. That's how we came by Tasha and Mysha 8 years ago. My wife and I will not be blessed by human children, but love our "fur children" quite alot.

Thanks for sharing your story.

Our feline family. . .http://www.dahoudek.com/pages/catphotos.htm

Ember looks almost identical to Velvet. When the servers come back up tomorrow you'll be able to see.

 

[Geo]

[quote="jvd
geo wtf are you talking about .

[/quote]

That you and John shouldn't have cats. Which is perfectly fine, and relatively easy to accomplish. At least after you move away from your sister.<g>

 

[jvd]

[quote="jvd
geo wtf are you talking about .

That you and John shouldn't have cats. Which is perfectly fine, and relatively easy to accomplish. At least after you move away from your sister.<g>[/quote]

ah okay i understand now. I didn't see how having children came into play. But i love cats. Just that i have a minor allergy to one and the other one is a pain.

For some reason the cats love my room and spend all thier time in there. They never leave it except for food and the litter box .

 

[Gollum]

Only got to read your story today Natoma, I found myself laughing and wiping tears out of my eyes at various times, thanks for sharing it with us! I've never had a pet myself unfortunately, always wanted one but never got one when I was a kid. And now, well I kind of "share" my girlfriend's and neighbour's pets, so I don't feel the need to get one of my own.

My girlfriend's old cat, Grisu, also grew pretty old and when the signs of old age became undeniable they had her put to rest. It was a hard decision, but the whole family was with her and it was done peacefully at home. That was ~4 years ago. Soon after that they decided to get a new cat, Leia. Leia had another 4 kittens of her own, 3 of them were given away (mostly to good friends) one my g/f kept, Luna. Both have brought us a lot of joy, so in that regard I can only reccomend getting a new cat, not as a replacement, but as a whole new and different story of its own.

Unfortunatelly Leia died earlier this year. One day she threw up in the living room and after my g/f picked her up and set her down again outside, she just dissapeared over the fence. It certainly wasn't the first time she had thrown up, neither was it the first time she had dissapperared, the record being 23 days! She was a pretty tough cat overall considering her size (or rather lack thereof). My girlfriend said she felt something wasn't quite right when she picked her up but hesitated to do something about it, she never got a second chance though. Usually Leia would be pretty persistent when she wanted something, but in this case she just went away. She must've died not far away the same day, alone. We only found out because some annoyed neighbour yelled at my girlfriend he had found a dead cat in his bushes and thrown it away. Great, thanks Mr. Charming for being so tactful. My girlfriend of course felt terrible, it took her weeks to even remotely get over it and I believe she still blames herself for Leia's death. We don't know the cause, the doctor said she was too healthy to have died of natural causes or eating something foul, but also that poisons should have shown more dramatic symptoms (e.g. bleeding eyes/nose). In the end some form of poisoning remains the most likely scenario, which I don't find a perticularly pleasant thought as it includes the possibility that someone might put poison out there deliberately. Luna seems to have dealt with the death of her mother rather well, she's also a bit les shy than before. But it still feels as if something is missing everytime I'm at my girfriend's.

 

[Natoma]

Just wanted to inform everyone that our server is back up without the need for a username and password to access.

http://www.iinteractive.com/malik/velvet/index.html

 

[JF_Aidan_Pryde]

But having never owned a pet, would someone be able to explain to me the rationale for 'putting them down' when they are close to their end? I find it somewhat hard to understand. (As in we don't do it to humans but pets?)

But otherwise, thanks for sharing that touching story.

 

[Natoma]

But having never owned a pet, would someone be able to explain to me the rationale for 'putting them down' when they are close to their end? I find it somewhat hard to understand. (As in we don't do it to humans but pets?)

But otherwise, thanks for sharing that touching story.

I didn't want her to have to go through the aging effects that were ravaging her body any longer. I did it for Velvet as much as I did it for myself. I couldn't bear to watch her stumble around, barely able to walk right, unable to keep her head up when she slept, peeing and shitting on the floor, whining at all hours of the day and night, etc etc etc. She was very well trained, almost victorian in her cleanliness. So I knew it was time. Why wait for the body to completely fail when she wasn't who she used to be, and hadn't been so in a long time, deteriorating with every passing day?

Yes, I support assisted suicide for the elderly and/or infirm. Suffering should not be something forced upon someone simply because other people socially expedient for them to do so.

 

[Mod]

The age of the cat of my sister´s boyfriend when he died was 25...

 

[Geo]

Just wanted to inform everyone that our server is back up without the need for a username and password to access.

http://www.iinteractive.com/malik/velvet/index.html

A fine looking Siamese.

Ember took a turn for the worse Monday night; Deb took her to the vet today, but refused to leave her for observation. Didn't want to risk she would go in a box amongst strangers. She had to argue to get some pain killers for her if they become necessary. They would have cheerfully put her down tho. Weird.

She's lost 3 pounds since the last time she was there and her body temperature is 94.5. That's 5 degrees low, very ominous. For the first time in forever she refused "yummies" last night when Deb tried to get her to eat something. I don't expect her to last the week now. How odd; I really had no thot that the end was so close when I posted Sunday night.

I don't mean to hijack your thread tho. It is comforting to read your story and remember that in a real way Ember will never leave us.

 

[jvd]

Just wanted to inform everyone that our server is back up without the need for a username and password to access.

http://www.iinteractive.com/malik/velvet/index.html

cute cat . If she liked to play i prob would have played with her even though i would have gotten sick .

 

[Natoma]

That's pretty much how Velvet's health deteriorated. One day she was fine. The next day, or should I say the next few days, bam. I honestly don't know. Maybe it's just like that sometimes. 18 years is a long time for a cat to live. In human years that's around 90.

That's really the only thing that comforts me these days. Knowing that she lived as long as she did. I can deal with the loss on that level.

 

[jvd]

That's pretty much how Velvet's health deteriorated. One day she was fine. The next day, or should I say the next few days, bam. I honestly don't know. Maybe it's just like that sometimes. 18 years is a long time for a cat to live. In human years that's around 90.

That's really the only thing that comforts me these days. Knowing that she lived as long as she did. I can deal with the loss on that level.

just remember natoma all the joy that she brought into your lives you all brought into hers and she was just as thankfull for you as you are for her

 

[Geo]

That's pretty much how Velvet's health deteriorated. One day she was fine. The next day, or should I say the next few days, bam. I honestly don't know. Maybe it's just like that sometimes. 18 years is a long time for a cat to live. In human years that's around 90.

That's really the only thing that comforts me these days. Knowing that she lived as long as she did. I can deal with the loss on that level.

Ember left us today about 2:00pm PDT. I had just called Deb to check on her and caught the end of it. Yes, it is a comfort to know she had a long life. Also that we made a significant investment to prolong that life 5 years ago and it worked out as well as it did. Many human cancer "survivors" don't get 5 years out of it. I imagine Deb will put a rose on our kitty pictures site. I'm still at work, watching the clock and not really getting anything done, or mentally capable of doing so.

 

[jvd]

geo I'm really sorry to hear that.

 

[Natoma]

That's pretty much how Velvet's health deteriorated. One day she was fine. The next day, or should I say the next few days, bam. I honestly don't know. Maybe it's just like that sometimes. 18 years is a long time for a cat to live. In human years that's around 90.

That's really the only thing that comforts me these days. Knowing that she lived as long as she did. I can deal with the loss on that level.

Ember left us today about 2:00pm PDT. I had just called Deb to check on her and caught the end of it. Yes, it is a comfort to know she had a long life. Also that we made a significant investment to prolong that life 5 years ago and it worked out as well as it did. Many human cancer "survivors" don't get 5 years out of it. I imagine Deb will put a rose on our kitty pictures site. I'm still at work, watching the clock and not really getting anything done, or mentally capable of doing so.

I'm terribly sorry geo.

 

[Geo]

Well, I suppose if I make it into my 90's and go from creaky-but-functional to gone in a 48 hour period, surrounded by loved ones, and without a great deal of pain (so far as I could tell), I will take it. Thanks all.

 

[John Reynolds]

I'm sorry to hear that, geo.

The stray cats my wife feeds are so cute I have to play with them at times, though I always end up paying for it thanks to allergies. And speaking of allergies, I had several dozen roses delivered to the hospital Monday and within five minutes Megan let out her first sneeze. Hmmm. . . .