Month: February 2004

I picked Miri up at the vet today and couldn’t stand to see how bad off she was. She couldn’t even stand up. I’m a selfish person, but not so selfish that I could see her suffer like that just so I could spend some time hugging her. She’s gone now. Just to make sure our relationship came around completely full circle, her last act was to pee on me. (Did she read that last blog entry? I wouldn’t put it past her.) I buried her in the back yard with the Dutch Irises and right by the window she used to sit in and soak up the sun rays.

I can’t express how much I’m going to miss her. She was my best friend – that may sound lame if you aren’t a pet person, but sometimes a pet is just a pet and sometimes they are friends. Miri always seemed to know when I was upset – she would cuddle up against me and purr. When I was crying after my dad died, I think she spent a whole week glued to me. She helped me so much during that time.

A Miri update: The treatments aren’t really working for the long term, but they are making her feel a bit better. The vet is going to release her back to me tomorrow afternoon. I’ll spend Friday and the weekend spoiling her rotten. Then, Monday, she’ll be put to sleep.

So, I’m laying here in bed with my laptop in place of Miri (yeah, not a good substitute) and I thought: if one of my last memories of Miri ends up being peed upon by her, that would, in a strange way, bring our time together full circle. The first night I brought her home, she was rather ticked off at having been separated from her family (yes, I’m anthropomorphizing – deal with it). When I went to bed, she clawed her way up on to the bed (she couldn’t quite make it in one jump), hopped up on top of me, hissed and then peed on me.

Of course, I could be totally overreacting and she’ll be much better in the morning…

I took my cat Miri to the vet today. She hasn’t been acting like she’s been feeling well – loosing weight and moving slow. I didn’t know if that was just her age (she’s 16) or if she was ill, so I took her in just to be safe. I was more than a bit disturbed at how little of a fight she made about going into the cat carrier. Getting her in there is often very difficult.

The vet took a look at her and wanted to do some tests. He said she was very dehydrated. He took a urine sample and left to run some tests. Miri started trying to jump off the table. While she’s never happy to be on the table at the vet, she’s never done that before. I pick her up to try and comfort her – that’s when a warm feeling down my front let me know why she was trying to get down. Yep, the vet’s poking around had made it really imperative that she pee.

The vet returns (with towels, bless him) and said he wanted to keep her for some blood work. Her urine didn’t show high glucose levels (which was good), but it also didn’t show a lot of anything else. He was worried that it seemed to be basically water. I gave her a hug and walked out.

I called back around noon and asked for an update. The assistant said I’d have to wait for the vet to get back from lunch. He called later while I was heading to a branch office to take some employee photos. The news left me sitting in the parking lot bawling my eyes out. He said her kidneys have failed and that, most probably, she’s beyond help. He said they could try hydrating her to see if that would help – that sometimes that “brings them back” for a few days or even a few months or longer. In my head, I knew I should probably say no, but my heart won. So, right now, Miri’s at the vet’s office on an IV. I’ve perhaps put off the inevitable a few days, maybe just one. She’s alone and scared in a strange place; I’m alone and feeling guilty at home.