RIP, Cookie

It was a tough week here. We had to say good-bye to our 15 year old Siamese, Cookie. We have had her for ten years. She originally belonged to an older woman who had a severe stroke and had to be placed in a nursing home. Either there was no family, or no family that wanted/could take a cat, so she went to a local (we were still in NH at the time) animal control. They had no facility for cats, so she was stuck in their facility with a roomful of dogs. She was pretty confused and frightened, and the ACO reached out to a cat rescue for help. We had volunteered for Kitty Angels before, had adopted several cats from them, and knew the director. Joan also bought her Clinique skin care supplies from our middle daughter. Stephanie messaged me one day from work and said Joan had been in to buy some stuff and she said to let me know she had a Siamese (she knew my soft spot for oriental cats!) that really needed a place to go, and to email her if I wanted to know more and see some pictures. We had multiple cats at the time, and my first reaction was no, we don’t need another. I resisted most of the day, but in the end, I couldn’t stop thinking that this kitty might really need help. So, I got the info and pictures, and knew I couldn’t leave her frightened by a new place and barking dogs. And so, Cookie came to us.

She was Siamese to the core. She was opinionated, mouthy, and thought she was queen of the world. She bonded with our snowshoe Siamese, Guinness, and they were almost always together. She also liked to share my morning coffee, thought I suspect that was more because I put cream in it than her wanting the caffeine!

She had chronic kidney disease, which is not unusual in older cats, and a few weeks ago, I took her to our vet’s because she seemed to be getting sicker. And she was. The vet said she was now in end-stage kidney disease. She had lost weight and muscle tone, and her bloodwork wasn’t good. This week, she took a downturn, and by the end of the week, she wasn’t eating, she’d lost more weight (which she couldn’t afford), and just was not a happy kitty anymore. So, on Friday morning, I called and made an appointment to bring her in for that last time. Went into the living room where she had been sleeping on the sofa all morning, and she was gone. I looked in all her favorite places. Not in any of them. Mike came to help eventually and between the two of us, we must have looked for her all over the house for two hours, and never figured out where she hid herself. I had to cancel the appointment. Just about the time the vet’s office was closing, she shows up in the kitchen like nothing had happened! Did I mention she was Siamese? LOL Saturday morning, I put her in the carrier first thing, and then called the vet. I took her in, signed all the paperwork, and they took her to place the catheter. When they were bringing her back, I could hear her voice from out in the hall, probably complaining about being stuck and the cath inserted. And she was a little snit right to the end. She got the injection and relaxed but I could feel her purring still for a minute or so. Even the vet was impressed. “She’s a tough one. That was one hell of an overdose I gave her,” he said. But, of course, she went quickly after that.

I always look to this quote by Alfred Townsend when we lose a pet. I think it expresses how it feels quite well:

“We who choose to surround ourselves with lives even more temporary than our own live within a fragile circle, easily and often breached. Unable to accept its awful gaps, we still would have it no other way. We cherish memory as the only certain immortality, never fully understanding the necessary plan.”

RIP, my little Cookie Monster. I will miss having a Siamese in the house, but you are not suffering any more and can rest easy now. Say hello to all the others that have gone before you!

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