Watchlords

Well, she's gone. Izzy left us this afternoon.

We found out a couple of weeks ago, as I think I posted here, that her ticker had gone bad, fluid around the heart and lungs, enlarged heart. It turned out to be way worse than we feared. As cats are cats, she never acted any different, although feedings the last 10 days or so were an adventure. She still acted like Izzy, but ...

Gotta hand it to the missus; she noticed the heavier breathing. (I never would have noticed this, since, to be honest, Izzy purred so much and both body movements looked similar.) We had a follow-up appt scheduled for tomorrow, but my wife moved it up to today. I didn't go with her to the vet, as we both had no idea she was this bad. The vet even gave us two options, but both painted a very bleak picture and the vet agreed it was time for her to go lest she suffer even worse. My wife calls me, frantic and crying like I have never heard her before, and I have to scramble to find a way to get there from NYC into the vet's office in Long Island.

So here I am in an Uber with a non-English speaking driver, sitting in holiday shopping traffic because he didn't use Waze, praying I would get there in time (the vet's office actually closed today at 2 pm, but they stayed open just for us. Very nice for that office to do this for us). I got there eventually so we could all say goodbye together.

Izzy came into our lives at at time when we couldn't have dog because of apartment regulations (we can now). So we adopted a senior dog after adopting a senior cat. My dog left us in February, and now the cat had to be put down the day before Christmas.

My wife is a dog person, but she grew to love Izzy as much as anyone or anything she's ever known. Izzy was like that. At the end, the cat needed all sorts of medicine in pill form, and Izzy was such a sweetheart that she'd let my wife push the pills into her mouth without a fight. I mean, like every time. That's a mini-miracle in and of itself.

Izzy was my best pal for the past four years. Nobody or anything else came even close. My wife is in that same boat.

We are in a complete daze. I am not afraid to admit that.

Just a daze.

I know everyone's pet is the "best" this or the "greatest" that, we all feel that way. But this one feels different. Izzy loved us so openly, it was incredible. She was a gift from God.

They say it's Christmas tomorrow.

I don't even know that that means right now.

Fuck. Even Imgur is down right now and I can't post some parting pictures. That's perfect.

Old pics are here:
viewtopic.php?f=177&t=35095&start=25

Damn T- so very sorry to hear, man.

3Flushes wrote: ↑

December 24th 2020, 4:16pm

Damn T- so very sorry to hear, man.

+1...

What a truly crappy year it has been..T, you & your better half gave Izzy the best years of her life..you did yourself proud and your lives are all the richer for that experience...

Very sorry for your loss T

My condolences. Our pets are family but in many ways closer. They love us unconditionally no matter what it seems. I have my two senoir ragdolls, both 12, ferals which taken into the family as kittens and are now almost three, a main coon, and three strays whom we feed.

Sharing your sadness after reading this. Sorry for your loss.

I am so sorry you and your wife are going through this pain right now. Just know you, your wife and Izzys souls touched each other and you are all the better for it. You all brought something special to each other and may those memories will be with you.

Am so very sorry that Izzy is gone. Honestly, I cried more when my daughter's Shih-Tzu had to go at age 13 than when my own mother died.

I liked the dog better and he was a better friend to me. My little buddy napped with me every day from noon-1600. Had trouble sleeping after he was gone. Still sleep with a toddler pillow against my thigh where he used to sleep.

Izzy was well loved, so evident in the way you speak of her. Am just so sorry.

I’m sorry to hear that, TB. Hurts like hell to lose a friend - and for whatever peculiar reason, a cat or a dog is as close a friend as humans rarely are.

Thanks, EVERYBODY.

This just hit me when I was writing to someone in my personal life: Love is the greatest gift of all. Nothing comes close. It can be a person, an animal, a hobby, a mountain or something. Love is the most powerful emotion, and if it's not to you, you're not human.

I know some would say "it's just a dog" or "it's just a cat," and scoff. That's okay.

All I know is that my big ol' NYC apartment, that I was dumb-lucky enough to marry into, seems like a giant cavern right now, and one of the things that made this place a home isn't here. I miss just knowing that cat was sitting in the other room or basking in the sun somewhere.

Tell you what - I ain't no saint, but Izzy's life, at least the last four years of it, was completely free of stress or angst, and she responded in kind. I swear on my life, from the moment she walked in here, adopted at 8 1/2, she knew she was home. They told us she was shy and wouldn't lie on her back. Forty-five minutes into her life here, she was on her back, asking for belly rubs. She would reach for us when we walked in the room - not kidding, reach her paw out in our direction. All the fucking time.

She would sleep with us, hang and watch TV with us, and was always here for us. She loved, adored, to be touched. She purred as a fucking way of life.

I'm blathering, I don't give a fuck.

My dog Belle and my cat Izzy are the only two things I've ever done in my life that were perfect, beyond perfect.

If there's a heaven without them, I don't want to go there.

^^^A proper tribute to your fur babies and to ours.

Have long said that if there is any proof of God's love, it is seen in the love of our dogs for their humans; and in Izzy's case, a loving cat is proof.

I'm so sorry to hear this, T. I haven't got words other than that. You and Mrs. T did right by Izzy, and there's not enough good people like you in this world.

conjurer wrote: ↑

December 24th 2020, 8:42pm

I'm so sorry to hear this, T. I haven't got words other than that. You and Mrs. T did right by Izzy, and there's not enough good people like you in this world.

Love, conj:

We're just a couple of schmoes, but we love our animals. Man enough to just come right out and say it.

It hurts because we care, and give thanks to whatever for memories, good or bad.
It fills my heart to know we here can share our joys and pains, because we all have had similar experiences.

TB, know that we share your sorrow, but hold on to the good times and share those too, because memories keep those we have loved and will always love alive.
Pax Vobiscum my friend, to you and yours.

Thinking of you and yours T.

Thanks, gents, one and all. The abruptness of it all was really jarring.

I'll be seeing you
In all the old familiar places
That this heart of mine embraces
All day through

I'll find you
In the morning sun
And when the night is new
I'll be looking at the moon
But I'll be seeing you

Sorry to hear this Temerity. She was beautiful. Most people who say they don't like cats have never owned one. Hope you and your wife are okay.

My heart hurts for you, man... you are addressing, quite eloquently I might point out, what I have grown to refer to as “love’s balloon payment”. It’s so easy on the front end, so easy to appreciate, and embrace... even knowing the terms are so very emotionally painful when a loved soul is called home.

And the irony is that is still a pretty good deal. Had this love not entered your life, sure, you wouldn’t be as sad... but your life would also lack that particular depth of experience that helps us embrace what is truly important.

I doubt you ever took for granted any meaningful moment... and, now knowing what you know, how empty would your life seem in retrospect?

Hence that terrible cliché about how it is better to have loved and lost than to not have loved. Yeaaaah, that is sooooo ghhhheeeey... but it’s true.

It does sound like if you didn’t have such a great relationship with this mammalian friend your heart would hurt less... but THAT would be sad for all the wrong reasons.

Still - really sorry for your loss, TB...

Nuvolari wrote: ↑

December 26th 2020, 5:02pm

My heart hurts for you, man... you are addressing, quite eloquently I might point out, what I have grown to refer to as “love’s balloon payment”. It’s so easy on the front end, so easy to appreciate, and embrace... even knowing the terms are so very emotionally painful when a loved soul is called home.

And the irony is that is still a pretty good deal. Had this love not entered your life, sure, you wouldn’t be as sad... but your life would also lack that particular depth of experience that helps us embrace what is truly important.

I doubt you ever took for granted any meaningful moment... and, now knowing what you know, how empty would your life seem in retrospect?

Hence that terrible cliché about how it is better to have loved and lost than to not have loved. Yeaaaah, that is sooooo ghhhheeeey... but it’s true.

It does sound like if you didn’t have such a great relationship with this mammalian friend your heart would hurt less... but THAT would be sad for all the wrong reasons.

Still - really sorry for your loss, TB...

Wow, man. Thanks so much.

aw, jeez...

Very well said, Nuvo.

TB, she looks so tiny in that big chair. Beautiful lady.

So sorry for you loss, Temerity.

Everyone should be so lucky to be owned by a cat at least once in their life.