We lost a furry friend today

Comet 10-31-1998 to 12-4-2013 RIP

Today, 4 December, we had to make a hard decision to put one of our cats down.  In the end, it was really the only thing we could do and the right thing because she was struggling to breathe.

Comet had been sick since August, first with allergies, then a bronchial infection.  Finally, x-rays showed an enlarged heart so we had to give her heart pills and a water pill twice daily.  The last month or so she’s been very congested, so has been on children’s Benadryl periodically.  The sneezing got better, but we had to do something about the congestion.

Well things deteriorated with constant drainage out of her nose.  One side had become bloody and we had to wipe her nose a couple of dozen times a day and try to clean her up.  Poor little thing.  She hated that and didn’t want us touching her face.  She was getting thinner because she could no longer smell very well.

The funny thing is that she would still run up the stairs and sleep in the chair up here most of the day.  She started that about two weeks ago after not coming upstairs for two months.  That made us think she was getting better at first.  This afternoon she found a sunspot on the floor of the loft to lie in.  Cats hate the cold weather as much as I do.

If you’ll indulge me, I would like to share a little about her life.

We rescued her when she was about five-weeks-old.  We did many shows in the 1990’s and she was living under a porch with a bunch of feral cats at one we did for Christmas.  This show was outside.  There was frost on the ground as this was early December.  There were many babies under that porch and a lot of adult cats too.  The babies had to eat last because the big ones would push then away, so we did what we could and were able to rescue four kittens.  One we kept and the other three we gave to various vendors at the show.

We called her Comet from Corona and took her home with us on a Saturday.  She was so small she could fit in the palm of my hand and didn’t make a peep the whole forty-five minute drive to the house.  I cradled her to my chest and she slept and nestled in.  I think that was the first time she had actually been warm.

Of course, the next day it was back to the show, but my husband drove home to check on Comet in the middle of the day.  On Monday, we took her to our vet.  She weighed a little over a pound, so we figured she was born right around Halloween.  In those early days, she smelled just like baby powder and was very gray all over, even her eyes.  I’ve had a lot of cats in my life, but none that smelled like baby powder.

The boys, my other cats Wizard and Ceaser, took her in, cuddled, and protected her.  The three of them had a strong bond.  Comet missed them so much when they left us a few years ago.  I’m sure they are welcoming her with open arms tonight, saying, “and what took you so long?”

She took a special liking to Tootie when we rescued her and they played for four hours and then lay flat out on the floor exhausted.  It was as if they had known each other all their lives, but they’re two years apart and strangers before Tootie came in the door.

This cat has always loved water.  When she was a baby, she liked to play in it a lot, so I bought a new litter pan and would fill it with water so she could splash about and have fun.  I put it in the middle of the kitchen floor so I could easily mop the water up.  I have a picture of this somewhere, but it was in the days before I had a digital camera.

She liked water all her life and would constantly wash her feet and drink from the faucet if we let her.  We didn’t dare leave a glass sitting around that had any water in it because she wasn’t picky about where she washed up.  When we got the cat water fountain about seven years ago, she used that to wash her feet, so we had to change it often.  All the cats love that fountain.

Comet was a headstrong cat, especially after the boys died because she knew she was at the top of the pack then.  She made the other girls fall in line, particularly the tuxedo girls, Sukie and Koki.  We used to joke that she was upstairs strapping on her pistol.  Well her pistol is now retired and she’s having a long reunion and lots of fun lying in the sun, chasing butterflies, and cuddling with the boys.  I like to think so anyway.  It makes it easier not having her around.

I hope you’ll enjoy the video clip I’ve put together of her life.  I’m not good at making these yet, but I wanted to try to do one for her in remembrance.  I don’t have any baby pics because I didn’t have a digital camera in those days.  I do have some in a box somewhere that are 35mm.  Maybe someday I’ll find them and scan them to my files.  Meanwhile, I hope you’ll enjoy these.

Cherish your animals because we only have them for a short time.  Often they are more loving and loyal than humans are and are such great friends who love you no matter what.  I’ll miss her laying on my keyboard when I’m trying to type, even though it was annoying at the time.  The years fly by before we know it.