Gone to Bast

Shadow
October 1991 - January 26, 2007

Our little Shadow is gone.

Last week her tests at the vet, all those they call a senior profile, read normal. The Clavamox the vet gave us to help with the coughing seemed to be working. She seemed a bit quiet, but was still generally normal, sometimes curled on the bed next to me when I woke, or patting me on the nose to wake me and demand some attention. Then Thursday she kept lying down on the floor, and often right next to the water dish, though I didn't see her drink. Lying on the hardwood floor is not something she normally did unless in a patch of bright sunshine, so I watched her. I poured a bowl of fresh water and put it beside her, and she still didn't drink.

When DH came home, we decided to take her to the vet, to see what had gone wrong. It was far too late to try to drive across town to our regular vet, so I made a few calls and found an emergency vet nearby. They agreed she was very sick, and so we had to leave her overnight, away from The Only Home. The results yesterday morning were very bad. Apparently she had quickly developed extreme pancreatitis, and it had attacked nearly all her other organs. She was septic, her blood pressure was low and she didn't respond to any of the treatments.

DH couldn't leave work, so I went to say goodbye alone. The vet's people brought her to me in a fleece blanket, and provided a warmed one, too. I held her and cried and talked to her about how much we will miss her. Looking into her eyes, it was clear that she was past being able to respond. And so I held her while she went.

Shadow was our clever cat. Her fur, even as a kitten, was so soft we almost named her Silky. She figured out how to lunge at doors left not-quite-closed so that she could open them, even at her little 7-lb weight. Since these were bathroom doors, she also learned what "Out!" meant. She made the most beautiful S-curves with her tail, more complex than the other cats we've had. Shadow would willingly consent to being groomed only if we didn't pull, so she was often called our 'Knotty' cat. Most of the time she slept on her back, with the extreme cuteness that comes from paws upheld and crossed, and she really enjoyed having her tummy rubbed. And she sang complex "Kitty arias" in the hallway, preferably in the wee hours, telling all about how she had once again 'killed' her mousie.

Having retired due to health problems, I have been blessed with the opportunity to spend much more time with our cats than when I worked long hours. Often she was somewhat literally my 'Shadow', moving from room to room to curl up next to me as I knitted or surfed the Web, much more a cuddle-cat than her sister Midnight.

Shadow came into our lives the first Christmas we had in this house, 2 weeks before DH and I got married. We will miss her so much.