Our 16 year old cat has been sick for months, medicated for a thyroid issue and deteriorating slowly. For years, she woke us up excessively early to be fed promptly and although her meows and paws were annoying as we lay in bed every morning, I have seriously missed it recently as she seemed to stop caring about consuming food. We knew that her time was drawing near and had confronted the possibility of imminent death, but to actually walk into the bedroom and find her lying lifeless on the floor was a fresh shock. I have suffered through many dead pets before, but I have never had to see any of them post-departure nor taken any to the vet for cremation. It was emotionally brutal. She was a part of my family and a constant part of my daily routine for years–if I was away and didn’t get to personally feed her or pet her, I would think about her and wonder how she was doing, what comfy spot she was sleeping in and whether or not she had peed or puked on anything important (she also had this annoying habit for her entire life). But for all her cat baggage, she gave me so much pure joy when she would crawl into my lap and purr like a motor when I pet her. I always wondered what life meant to her; it was so enviously simple to eat, sleep and get pet that my life sometimes seemed pointlessly complicated. If that is all there is to a cat’s life then she lived it well, but if she could ever understand how much we loved her, then she would know the true beauty and meaning of her life.
Thank you, Lilly. We will miss you and love you forever.
