L A S T D A Y.
Life has changed drastically for her these last 2 years. Demoted from Daily Companion to Toddler’s Live Toy, banished from the bedroom, beset with hyperthyroidism, arthritis, a world-altering change of homes, and now failing kidneys, this kitty is far older than her 14 years.
The first half of her life was treasured by breeders: she was a champion show cat, and a born nurturer; she would try to steal other kitties when she had none of her own. When presented with the chance to adopt her instead of waiting 12+ months for an $850 kitten, we snapped her up.
She was never healthy, but always happy to nap with you. No movie night ever began without her vibrato coo and graceful leap into my lap. Her silver shadow made my freelancing home office feel companionable instead of isolated. She slept in my arms every single night for 5 years, until the baby came.
If cats wrote therapy books, I’m sure there would be a whole shelf titled “Prepare Thyself For Their Progeny”. We had hoped she would age gracefully, and that Bianca would have a little pal around the house, but alas, it is not to be.
I won’t miss her ammonia-dotted exclamation points marking her anxiety, worrying if I’ve left her unsupervised too long in a room with hard-to-clean surfaces, wiping up her sneezes, ordering her exorbitant “Urinary-Calm” prescription food—but all of these irritating details will be filed into the nostalgic anecdotes of owning a senior pet. Those preceding me, who extended their tolerance past the average lines of “it’s just an animal”, understand that it takes a while to make the call between expediency and mercy.
As I type, Amy nestles herself into the curve of my neck, her mauve paws folded against my collarbone. This is our happy place: she can fall asleep without blocking my view of the laptop.
I will miss her emerald eyes, the delicate flickerings of her extra-long tail, her flattened Yoda ears during chin scratches, her rabbit-like lollops across the carpet, and the tinkling arpeggio sound she always made when you woke her up, saying, “Oh, since you’re here, how ‘bout a belly rub?”
#ripkittycat #russianblue