One Of Our Beloved Cats Passed Away Today

Her name was Smokey.

She didn't die simply naturally, but my wife took her to the vet for them to "put to sleep."

That's a very hard thing to do. I'm kind of a coward but I could've done it, out of mercy. But in this case I didn't have to.

We were crying when they left.

I told her what a good cat she was and how much of a friend she was, and some other personal things.

She was just shy of 15 and was getting very skinny and had trouble vomiting all the time.

So ... sad day for us.

The Cat Survived

The other day I wrote about my cat, who I expected would not make it. I figured when she went to the vet that they'd put her "to sleep," but it turned out that she came home.

I was resigned to the fact that she'd probably die. But of course it would good to hear that she was in health at least good enough to continue being a cat. To get a $140 bill to prove it wasn't a good feeling, but life sometimes comes with a price tag.

As to what to do differently, we got four cans of food, that somehow we were supposed to feed her. The complication is that there's another cat who wants it. Then the other cat's food is there. And the cat who went to the vet wants to eat it, etc. Plus, four cans of food isn't going to cure anything. So we should either have a bigger supply of the food or forget it.

I don't know what to do. I guess we'll let her eat what she wants. And die when she dies. And in the meantime, live.

One Of My Cats Is Nearing The End

I have a terrible feeling that one of my cats is nearing the end of her life. But rather than her just lingering and dying, it could be that we will have to take her to the vet for the end.

She'd be 15 sometime around May through July. But recently, for quite a while maybe, she's been losing weight. She's very skinny. Plus she vomits daily and more than once.

Yet she doesn't act like she's in any pain or discomfort. She eats like normal. She just doesn't keep anything down.

Anyway, she's going to the vet in a couple of days (Thursday) to be checked out, and we'll see what happens from there. She's been a decent pet and friend to us. She has a funny little trait that she's known for. If we say her name, she'll open her mouth like a meow but sometimes no noise comes out. She'll only do it the first time.

Another Stain To Go With My Old Book

The other day I wrote about an old book I have, "The Soul of Lilith," which is over 100 years old. The copy I have has a name and 1906 written inside the front cover. The book also has some very old stains, maybe coffee stains at the page edges.

Well, unfortunately, today it got a brand new stain. One of my cats puked on it. What are the odds out of all the books I own? I've worried about the cats doing something like this, and I even worried about this book in particular, something happening to it thanks to the cats. And today it happened.

I was in a different room and heard a cat retching. It seems like they do a lot of it. I went running because sometimes I can catch them in time and get a paper under them. But this time no such luck. I got there and it was already done.

I noticed that first, and second I noticed a spot on the book at the top front cover, spilling over on to the top page edges. Right where a major part of the century old coffee stain also is. I immediately wiped it off with something but it's still stained. Although not as bad as if I would've come home an hour later and discovered it.

It was also on a few other books but not as bad. Bad enough! So I wiped everything up.

I said the stains gave the book character. Now, unfortunately, it has a little more.

The Cat Ruined My Bagels

The other day I bought a bag of bagels and accidentally forgot to put in the fridge.

I got up in the morning and there they were on the counter. But I didn't notice anything else at that time.

Yesterday, then, I got up and went to have a bagel and I noticed the bag as all chewed up, and when I took a bagel out it had been inflicted upon with teeth marks and was gnarly.

That darn cat!

Anyway, I cut off the worst bit and had the rest. But now I still have the rest of the whole bag and they don't look that great.

Growing Old Together

I was watching one of my cats going down the stairs the other day, not quite as spry as she used to be. It looked like she was taking very deliberate, almost painful steps. There wasn't anything to indicate pain, but going so slowly it made it look like that to me.

The other cat, a couple years ago or 1½ years ago, was having a hard time climbing. I saw him trying to jump up on something (on their cat box) and he wasn't making it, or making it with difficulty.

But in a gradual recovery, he doesn't seem to have any trouble doing it now. So I don't know. Maybe he had a temporary problem back then.

Both the cats will be 15 in the middle of 2010.

The dog is officially 10 years old and a few months. But she doesn't appear to be slowing down any. But it's all just a matter of time.

Then there's me, us people. We're way older than them, but it's OK to be as old as we are and be human beings. We age Fahrenheit and they're Celsius, so we have lots of extra leeway.

It's interesting to age together. Any other pet, something happens to them. Hit by a car. Strangled somehow. Dies of worms. These three animals look like they're not going to pass on till old age tells them to.

The Raw Sewage Tweets (Collect Them All)

Changed the litter tonight. But by the morning the cats will have left me a surprise. Not exactly buried treasure, since they don't bury it.

There's several good things you can say about cats. 1, unless they're really, really sick, they don't do it on the floor. Very disciplined.

But I see them in the box a lot. One eats his breakfast, then I'm getting mine, next thing I see his head sticking out of the box.

It's not a pleasant sight, but like I say, they have the discipline not to do it on the floor.

I'm more of a dog person, but dogs need all kinds of help. I have my dog out so many times a day! A vampire couldn't own a dog.

The process of digestion waits for no man. It's always "ready or not, " as regular as clockwork.

I've heard of saints who didn't really have to go to the bathroom, like Therese Newman, I believe her name was. Saved on toilet paper.

She just layed in bed and ate air or something. And air doesn't need digested, just breathed back out. I think she ate sunshine.

Something like that she supposedly ate, very lightweight stuff. Wouldn't be enough to fill me up, a few watts off a light bulb.

It'd be great to be a saint who could lay in bed all day, though. I don't know. I guess there's advantages to getting up. Like a life.

I myself ate regular meals today, including going out for Mexican food for dinner. That's around 20 bucks plus tip, so it's not cheap.

I could've gone to DQ, had a flaming burger, some fries, a drink, and a sundae for under $15 and no tip. So maybe I should've.

I'm disciplined to a certain extent. But then once in a while we feel like splurging a bit.

Anyway, I'm like the cats ... when tomorrow gets here it doesn't matter if you ate steak or canned soup.

The guy at the sewage plant stands there with his big rake and knows you're awake. Always monitoring the intake.

If I worked at the sewage plant I'd keep it very impersonal. Like I'd monitor the flow but just average it out.

I'd guess tours at the sewage plant include a lot of laughter. Like "You can set your watch to it, the toilets flushing at 8 a.m." Ha, ha.

I think of that in the morning while going to the bathroom. Like, How long does it take for this to get to the sewage plant? Do they notice?

Let's say you work at the sewage plant and you have a sore stomach or a migraine. You feel like ---- and you know exactly what that means!

Sewage plants loomed large in my imagination as a kid too. We had one at our town we always drove by, big metal domes over it, sanitary.

You figure, it's domed and round. There must be a big scooper under there stirring it all up. Then it turns into varnish and they sell it.

It was different at some of the smaller towns, like where I also lived. It was just out there in the noonday sun in a big square pool.

They had signs on it that said "RAW SEWAGE. NO SWIMMING." Most people violate a rule here or there. I never knew anyone to violate this one.

Surprisingly it didn't stink. But I never got that close. The worst one that stunk was one that I believe was enclosed, but maybe not.

We used to think anyone who worked around the stinky one would go home with an apparent beard like Fred Flintstone's.

The intake valve on your face, continuing to breath, would be plugged up. Then the creeping brown would outline Fred's beard shape.

Never Ending Pet Care

I can't imagine what happens when completely irresponsible people get pets. Their animals must really suffer. I hate everything about suffering animals and can't stand to watch it on TV, like on the Animal Planet channel.

They ought to rename Animal Planet the Sadist and Masochist Network, with all the dog surgery and abused animal shows they have. It's like animal porn and I can't stand to see it when it's on. "Is this the Food Network?" I'm seeing a lot of close-ups of red meat. Then they pull back. No, they're just bandaging up the back haunch of a dog.

Animal Planet is a very sickening channel.

Anyway, animal care is a thing full of responsibility. Meaning I need to forever be on top of the supply of food, cat litter, liner bags, etc. So I'm just about ready to head out to the store to pay the fee for animal companionship.

Garbage Can Tipping

I think my oldest cat is being very obnoxious. He's taken to climbing up on our garbage receptacle in the kitchen and tipping it over. So we started setting it outside the room where he can't get to it. Now he also tips over the recycling wastebasket.

I wish he would quit some of this annoying stuff, like that, and making loud, uncool meowing noises in the middle of the night. It annoys the dog, the dog growls and chases him off, and people wake up. It's very annoying.

The cat's getting old. He'll be 14 this summer. So I think maybe with age cats go a little wacky.

Singled Minded Cat

When I went out to the car, passing through the kitchen, the cat thought it might be time to eat. So he comes out to see, or maybe he was already there. Then when I get home, 15 minutes later, he thinks maybe it's time to eat, checking with me.

I get up in the morning and stir. I need to go downstairs and the cat comes wandering out -- immediately -- thinking it's time to eat. No, I say, it's a little early. I go back upstairs for an hour or an hour and a few minutes. Then I go down. This time it is time for the cat to eat, and he appears without any calling.

That cat is always monitoring the dish. Always hungry it seems. He has a single minded focus on one thing, when the next meal is. Of course he always has the dry food setting there, and he is pretty good about eating it. But he likes that extra can of meat.

I don't remember my cat always being this way. It seems to me now that he's old he is a lot more demanding about food. Let's eat, let's eat, let's eat!