Closing the chapter

I've just returned from picking up Twinkie's remains.

I'm sad to say I haven't been doing all that great with this whole thing. I really appreciate my friends that have been so good to me. I know a few of you who view pets differently from me and are probably somewhat disapproving of my reaction, and your patience with me is a kindness I really appreciate.

We're not entirely sure what all happened to poor Twinkie. What we do know is that it was a heart condition that brought him down. It may have been a condition brought about by his diabetes, or it may have been a pre-existing condition that was mild enough to escape detection for years, and which was aggravated by his diabetes until it took his life. The heart condition caused his lungs to fill with fluid, and he was in pretty bad shape. We dropped him off at the vet on Thursday for them to observe him overnight and try to stabilize his condition.

On Friday morning the vet called us to tell us that Twinkie's condition had worsened to the point that he nearly died when they shifted him to take blood for some tests. The only way they had to save his life was to transfer him to a specialist animal hospital, and even that gave us long odds. We went to visit with him immediately, and the poor guy was clearly suffering badly. He wasn't himself at all, and was audibly drowning within his own body.

So we said our good-byes and did the compassionate thing.

I know we did the right thing for him. It's never easy, but it's been especially hard this time. Every so often, a pet comes around that's just special. Twinkie definitely was.

My wife always joked that he was a dog trapped in a cat's body. That certainly seemed to be the case. He was the friendliest, most un-catlike cat I've ever met. He liked people so much that the vet had to hold him over running water to make him stop purring when checking his heart and lungs.

He was my cat. He was as attached to me as I was to him. We had our routines, especially first thing in the morning and last thing at night. Every morning, he waited between my side of the bed and my chest of drawers for me to wake up. I'd pet him for a while and then go shower. He waited outside the shower, and when I got out, licked my right calf every morning.

He was weird.

Every night he went upstairs to bed with my son. When I'd go up to check on the kids, I'd tease my son about how Twinkie was my damn cat and he'd better leave him alone. Kidzookie ate that up. When I finally came up to turn in myself, Twink would come up and lie on my chest and I'd pet him until I fell asleep. He liked being pet so much that he would drool, and I mean drool. Slobber flowed freely from his mouth. Every night I'd scratch his ears to make him shake his head and he'd spray wifezilla with spit.

Good times.

Every time I sat down at my desk to work on my computer, he jumped in my lap. I don't think there's been 15 total minutes in the past eight years that I've sat at that desk without a cat. I'm really going to miss that.

You always feel like you didn't appreciate someone enough once they're gone. I guess it's human instinct. It rose up and kicked me in the stomach with Twink, but in this case, I think it really isn't true. I loved that cat to pieces and said so often while he was still with us. I played with him and pet him every day, and had commented to my wife just a few days prior to his sudden passing how special a pet he was, and how lucky I was to have him. Obviously, I wish I'd had more time with him, but the time we had was well spent. He was well-fed, well-cared for, well-loved, and, well, happy.

Not really sure how to end this. My normal bile and sarcasm are too disrespectful for this post. I guess I'll let it go with a simple God speed, Twink. I miss you.

Diabetic cat is no more.

God speed, gentle soul.

I'm gonna go listen to Bright Eyes a few thousand times and maybe throw up a little.

The Further Adventures of Diabetic Cat

So Diabetic Cat has stopped eating, stopped drinking, stopped using the litterbox, shows signs of heavily labored breathing, and can't be bothered to get out from underfoot, and can't be bothered to avoid the dog.

Good signs, huh?

We took him to the vet, and those things are all signs of his diabetes not going so great. They're keeping him overnight and doing some x-rays and shit.

That sounds cheap.

I can't go through this shit again. This is the most awesome pet I've had since my dog I had in high school. God damn it all. Someone please tell the universe to stop kicking me in the balls.

Diabetic cat is diabetic.

Wheee.

So now we have to feed him prescription cat food. After a month on the (quite expensive) food, they'll test him again, and if it's doing the trick, we're set. If not, we have to go to supplementing the food with shots.

Wheee.

The vet told me on the phone that, on the bright side, "You can tell people you put your pet on the Catkins Diet." I responded automatically with an, "I hate you, Larry." This left the vet confused. :)

Another weird day in Tacoslavia

I'm cornering the market on weird. I know that sounds great now, but once I've done it and you guys are clamoring for a little oddity to spice up your mundane days, I'm going to charge ten times as much. You've been warned.

We took the cats to the vet for their usual checkups this week. I got a call from the vet today with the results. Said results? One cat's in perfect health... and the vet thinks the other one may have diabetes. They're doing a test to verify that now. We're supposed to know by Monday.

In retrospect, naming the cat Twinkie seems kinda mean now.