h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I like the quote, sunny - thanks!

az

azahar you are one brave lady.
I wish both strenght

This morning I was telling my student Alvaro about my decision. He said that considering Lua's age and not knowing how long she has had the tumour that this seemed the best thing. Then he said that after 'Lua's time comes' he wanted to give me a present of another 'little Lua'. And well, that was so sweet of him, but I told him that I would prefer to wait and see if another cat finds me. I mean, I don't actually *need* three cats! They all just happened to me and I'm not even sure I would want another one. I don't think I would go looking for one, to be honest.

Anyhow, the decision is sitting slightly better with me now. I don't know why the idea of the operation feels so wrong - it just does. It's just that not operating doesn't really feel right either. The lesser of two evils? - I hope so.

I like to imagine that last night Lua sensed a decision had been made and that I had decided to just take care of her as best I could without any further vet trips or traumas. Which is why she cuddled up in my arms. I do know I am only imagining that, but it is still a nice thought.



az

azahar, I think you are good and loving person. your decision is well thought thru. I think Lua lets you know this by keeping close!

"Life, we learn too late, is in the living, in the tissue of every day and hour." Stephen Leacock

"There is in us something wiser than our head." Arthur Schopenhauer 1788-1860

"Everything passes, but nothing entirely goes away." Jenny Diski

Hi az, I'm glad the decision is sitting slightly better with you. I laughed when you said she gave you a dirty look because you had run out of pate! You had better not do that again!

I hope you get lots more snuggle moments az!

I'll catch up with you all in 2 weeks!

Lady

Lua obviously feels close to you, az, I'm sure she has an idea of what you have been going through trying to decide what is best for her. Snuggling up to you was her way of letting you know that she appreciates it.

Last night, we had our annual coop business meeting. They announced that, as of April 1st, all cats will have to be licensed, chipped or tattooed, and be on a leash or harness. Any cats found loose in the complex can and will be picked up by animal control, taken to the pound. If they aren't chipped and licensed, they will be destroyed. No more than 3 pets allowed. (city by-laws state 6 as the limit, I believe).

I am livid.

No matter how hard I try, Benjamin gets out. He dashed by Mom at the door. He rips off all collars (or nearly strangles on them) making it very hard to keep any ID on him, and the fences around the units are so decrepit that a moose could wander in, let alone a cat get out.

I don't know if it has occurred to them the above, and that, since we are not a fenced community, neighbourhood cats can wander freely in and out of the complex.

Honestly, I feel like we have suddenly become a police-state! Dogs, on the other hand are constantly pooping on my lawn and walk.....

I am going to have to invest in a storm-door for the front door, but I simply don't know what to do with the back yard.

They have been promising us since we moved in that our fences will be repaired but have let them deteriorate until they are nearly collapsed.

What about a tattoo on his shoulder - a big heart with Property of Mudhooks written across it?

It does sound weirdly drastic. I supposed having him chipped is the best solution?

az

Muddy

If they don't keep the fences repaired, then you can't be expected to keep your animal within them.

Put the request for repair in writing, keep a copy, get a receipt (recorded delivery) of the fact that it has been delivered, then send reminders every ten days. The same letter will do, with a new date under the old one, saying second request, third request, etc. Keep a record of how many times you have asked.

When/if the fence is repaired, then you have the rest of the problem, but the fence thing may well give you a bit of time to find a useable harness to glue on your cat... and never forget the power of the local press... The angle that they are proposing to round up other people's cats and take them to death row is an emotive one

Jez

---

az - it's the right thing.

There will be a bad time, but it is still the right thing. Lua has a right not to be mucked around when the outcome is only a postponement of what does, after all, come to all of us.

Jez

Alvero cant like you that much if he wants to give you a snarling bald bellied ball of "barbed wire" coz that will be what it felt like if you managed to get hold of a cat that does not want to be held

Lua will have picked up on your "parental concern" for want of a better word ,and being the sort of cat she is is comforting you,enjoy it while you can, if you cant tickle her tum give her a shoulder and foot massage from me Henry loves them!

Yesterday I went to buy more Prescription Diet food for the boys (at the hi-tech vet's neighbourhood branch where I got the x-ray done) and the vet there had another long chat with me about Lua and options to operate. Third vet, third totally different opinion. I somewhat hesitated in my decision until I realised that it felt a bit like clutching at straws. Like playing the lottery. Nothing about the operation option is sure except that it will disrupt Lua's present peaceful condition.

And while eventual death from cancer is also sure because of my decision at least she is not going to die tomorrow on an operating table. It's a strange feeling, not knowing if I have another week with Lua, or another year. Of course, I don't really know that about anything else either.

az

Well, at least you have some time, however short or long, to love her.

We all know people who say, after a loved one dies suddenly, "I wish I had said "I love you" when they left for work, or "I never had the chance to say I was sorry over ____ . He died never knowing I was sorry."

In my experience, it isn't so much the final "I love you" or "I'm sorry" that we regret not having said. It is the lifetime's worth of missing "I love yous" and "I'm sorrys" that we kick ourselves over.

We can't always leave our various relationships "finished", so to speak, but when we have the chance to, we have to take it.

When my father died, I was completely devastated. However, the one thing I can say was that I was able, finally, to tell him I loved him, mean it, and know he knew I meant it. I have a lot of regrets, but that it not one of them.

We want, sometimes, to clutch at straws and keep someone or something with us longer, replacing the "I love yous" and I'm sorrys" that we never said with "Don't leave me." Most people on their deathbed would prefer to be held up by the lifetimes of "I love yous" and "I'm sorrys" as they make their way out.

I agree with you totally, Mudhooks. I do feel grateful that Lua just didn't die suddenly, that I have this time now to completely spoil her and love her and love her and love her. I mean, it was just by chance that I found the tumour two weeks ago. It might have been that I still wouldn't have known about it! That I wouldn't have noticed until she started showing visible symptoms of being ill. I *am* glad that it didn't happen that way.

So now every day with her is so extra special.

I also got to see my father about a month or so before he died. He didn't seem ill at all and during that visit I also got to tell him that I loved him. We had always had such a complicated relationship but we made our peace during that visit. Anyhow, shortly after I got back to Spain he went into hospital for tests and they found seven cancers in seven different organs! And he was dead within two weeks.

I think he knew before that he was very sick but held off going to the hospital because he didn't want to be saved. He had just got tired of living, especially after his second wife died. Anyhow, I am glad that he died knowing that I loved him.

az

Speaking of perscription diets henry at moment is busy fishing out the remainder of my sweet and sour chicken,the site of him gingerly
fishing in the bowl,outstreched paw ,useing claws as a hook to lift
a slice of pasta or carrot,to lay flat on floor so he can lick it clean,not quite sur of taste so stroked edge bowl with paw, proceeds to lick clean.The things he will try !

hi logicus,

I have often wondered if keeping the boys on this very expensive Prescription Diet food is really worth it. Both of them had problems with kidney stones a few years ago, which as you know can be fatal if not caught in time. I was told by the hi-tech vets that I had to keep the two on this diet for the rest of their lives. But in fact, both boys seem to really love it and so I am loath to change to something cheaper *just in case* the hi-tech vets are right about this.

At the same time I put the boys on Prescription Diet I also switched Lua to Hill's maintenance and later to Senior when she got older. Thing is, she really has never liked this food at all. So now, while I am still giving her Hill's, I have switched to the tinned paté, which she ADORES! Even though it costs about twice as much as the dry food. And I am giving her treats from my plate too. She is the only one that shows an interest in 'human food', but she has always been a bit of a gourmet cat (or a gourmand! )

At this point I am not going to worry too much about her diet being the healthiest one possible, nor that she might even put on a bit more weight. The vet suggested that if I am switching her to tinned food now I should go with the Hill's Senior or Light (cos she's fat) but that is even more expensive than the Hill's maintenance paté! I think it's enough that I am forking out for the paté, to be honest and not switching her to Whiskas or something else low quality that costs a quarter of the price of Hill's. So in this sense I do want her to be eating well and having a healthy diet. But I won't put her 'on a diet' now. Poor darling. She is getting so much pleasure from her meals right now.



az

azahar, I can see you watching Lua enjoying her meal.

pheloxi,

Yes, it is lovely watching her enjoy her food so much. And I have seriously taken Kaz's advice to heart to NEVER run out of paté again! Wow, did I ever get a LOOK from her when I tried to give her some of her old dry food the other day.

If cats could talk I'm sure Lua would have said - 'What fresh HELL is this??!!' Really, she is a quite a bit like Dorothy Parker, I think. But man, I got the dirtiest look ever and then Lua walked away in a huff. Of course she came back later when she was truly hungry and there was nothing else on the menu that day.

This morning I woke up to find Lua clawing at my hair (once again) and purring away like mad. Bless her furry little heart.

az

may be she is/was cranky, because she got dry food all the time..