good-bye my friend

Yesterday we had to say good-bye to Denby our beautiful grey cat.

I am at a loss for what to say about her. She was beautiful. She was neurotic. She peed on carpets. She once ruined my favourite boots (which I am still not entirely past. I mean my BOOTS cat? What were you thinking?).

She was the cutest kitten that I have ever seen, and my grandparents used to have a dozen cats so I've seen a bunch. She would sit on Marc's head.

We had a lots of ups and a lot of downs together. There were days I loved her dearly and days that I thought we would have to get rid of her. But I never could have given her up.

Denby had mellowed with age. Since we moved into this house 6 months ago she had become a really lovely cat. She was affectionate. She let the kids pet her, kiss her. She slept on our bed - she would meow at us when it was time to go to sleep (for her at least). She took up sleeping on Stu's bed until he fell asleep - helping my restless boy to not stay up for hours.

About a month ago her appetite went a little wonky. We put it down to the change in her cat food. She was the fussiest of fussy eaters - a new improved version of a food could put her off for weeks.

Thursday morning she started to throw up. Thursday night at the emergency vet they couldn't find much. By Sunday we were back because she wasn't eating, wasn't drinking, wasn't moving.

She was going into renal failure. Her levels when the blood work came back were off the scale. We didn't have many options, not wanting her to suffer more.

She let me know she was pretty pissed off at the end. The growling that came from her toes. For a cat that hadn't moved in 3 days she had to be sedated to put the IV in to euthanize her.

I am glad we were there at the end. I cried those big messy tears that just run down your cheeks without you realizing that they are even falling.

Miss you my schmoofink.