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This is probably the last page you'll see for a week or two.

I probably shouldn't say this, it'll sound like I'm seeking attention, and it's probably the wrong place for it anyway, but I want to talk about it somewhere besides with my family and this is really the only soapbox I have.

I have to put my cat to sleep this week, hopefully tomorrow.

Again, I'm not looking for attention, and you don't have to send me condolences, though I'm not going to stop you if you want to.

I mean, you really don't have to send me condolences. She's 19 years old, and she had one hell of a good life. I've had her in my life more than I haven't at this point.

And I've known this was coming for a while anyway. Five years ago, when she was diagnosed with hyperthyroidism, they were already talking about her like she only had a year or two left. Which is natural, 14 is basically the average lifespan. And two years ago they started seeing signs of kidney disease, which is inevitably fatal. You can draw things out with special food, which I did, but eventually the kidneys shut down and the cat stops eating or drinking.

And that's what's happening, though not because of her kidneys. It's something else entirely, one of several possibilities, that's increasing the levels of sodium and calcium in her system to the point where she feels so bad she doesn't want to eat. She is still drinking a ton, though, which is nice to see at least. She's actually sitting here right now, going to town on a cup of water and leaning against my arm as I type this.

They did give me some medication that's supposed to help, but it doesn't seem to be working. She hasn't done anything for the past day or two except rotate between the couch and the water bowl by my computer. Plus, she absolutely freaks out when I give the liquid medicine to her, and I'm supposed to do that twice a day.

I'm not going to torture her like that, just to get maybe a year or two before her kidneys start shutting down. It's not fair to her or to me.

Everything just kind of stacked up. She had two conditions that I was able to manage, but this is just one too many, and ultimately the cure isn't worth it. Again, even if it did work, it's not worth it to put her through all that just for a bit more time. At some point, you just need to realize that their systems are failing, and let them go before they suffer too much.

Again, I don't need condolences, though I know you'll send me them anyway and I'll read them all. We had nineteen years together. That's a lot for cat, a lot more than I had any right to expect. And except for three or so years when I was living in the college dorms, I was with her the whole time. Even then I was close enough that I could drive home on weekends occasionally. It huts so much because it was so long, but the fact that it was so long means I have nothing to be sad about. Though that's not stopping me.

Maybe this is the wrong place to commemorate her, but it's all I really have, and I'm gonna use it.

So, yeah, I'm not going to feel like drawing for a while. The next page will be delayed a bit.

Description

< Previous | First | Next >

This is probably the last page you'll see for a week or two.

I probably shouldn't say this, it'll sound like I'm seeking attention, and it's probably the wrong place for it anyway, but I want to talk about it somewhere besides with my family and this is really the only soapbox I have.

I have to put my cat to sleep this week, hopefully tomorrow.

Again, I'm not looking for attention, and you don't have to send me condolences, though I'm not going to stop you if you want to.

I mean, you really don't have to send me condolences. She's 19 years old, and she had one hell of a good life. I've had her in my life more than I haven't at this point.

And I've known this was coming for a while anyway. Five years ago, when she was diagnosed with hyperthyroidism, they were already talking about her like she only had a year or two left. Which is natural, 14 is basically the average lifespan. And two years ago they started seeing signs of kidney disease, which is inevitably fatal. You can draw things out with special food, which I did, but eventually the kidneys shut down and the cat stops eating or drinking.

And that's what's happening, though not because of her kidneys. It's something else entirely, one of several possibilities, that's increasing the levels of sodium and calcium in her system to the point where she feels so bad she doesn't want to eat. She is still drinking a ton, though, which is nice to see at least. She's actually sitting here right now, going to town on a cup of water and leaning against my arm as I type this.

They did give me some medication that's supposed to help, but it doesn't seem to be working. She hasn't done anything for the past day or two except rotate between the couch and the water bowl by my computer. Plus, she absolutely freaks out when I give the liquid medicine to her, and I'm supposed to do that twice a day.

I'm not going to torture her like that, just to get maybe a year or two before her kidneys start shutting down. It's not fair to her or to me.

Everything just kind of stacked up. She had two conditions that I was able to manage, but this is just one too many, and ultimately the cure isn't worth it. Again, even if it did work, it's not worth it to put her through all that just for a bit more time. At some point, you just need to realize that their systems are failing, and let them go before they suffer too much.

Again, I don't need condolences, though I know you'll send me them anyway and I'll read them all. We had nineteen years together. That's a lot for cat, a lot more than I had any right to expect. And except for three or so years when I was living in the college dorms, I was with her the whole time. Even then I was close enough that I could drive home on weekends occasionally. It huts so much because it was so long, but the fact that it was so long means I have nothing to be sad about. Though that's not stopping me.

Maybe this is the wrong place to commemorate her, but it's all I really have, and I'm gonna use it.

So, yeah, I'm not going to feel like drawing for a while. The next page will be delayed a bit.