Thank you everyone for your condolence wishes. I can't tell you how hard it is to have Cookie gone. She was more than just a cat to me and I just can't seem to stop crying no matter how much I try to move on. I've already tried to clean out the kitchen and rearrange it and have cleaned out and given away the measuring cup she use to drink from and the bowls she ate from. Someday, I might get another cat but they can get new things, like actual bowls meant for cats rather than bowls bought from Ikea which our Vet claimed were awful for cats.

Cookie, the only good thing about Texas, in which I also share how ancient I am )




We'll miss you Cookie, thank you for everything. August 1994- June 2011
Borrowed from [livejournal.com profile] reynardine

Put the following events in order as they occurred in your own life.

Get married
Buy a house
Get Pregnant
Have baby #1
Have baby #2
Have baby #3
Have baby #4
Graduate college
Graduate high school
Meet significant other
Meet who you hoped was your significant other but wasn’t
Move out of parent’s house for good
Start college
Become gainfully employed
Buy a car
Get drunk for the first time
Get a cell phone
Get divorced

My answers )

News on the Cookie front. After getting a big scare on Tuesday night when she didn't come down to eat and we had to bring food to her, Cookie has been coming down to remind us she does still want food. For those curious, she won't eat her dry food anymore so she lives on a diet of canned tuna. Not cat canned tuna, but human canned tuna so that at least I can have something kosher in the house. She is eating and is definitely still interested in food. We use to just feed her around dinner time but now feed her on demand, much like the baby. (Though like the baby she sometimes has to wait a couple minutes so I can get things ready... like today I had to put the baby to nap first) I still don't think she has super long since she is very thin and not eating as much as she should, but the immediate danger seems to have passed and I'm hoping we can at least keep her going a little while longer.
I wanted to make a happy post about my baby. How she is sleeping well, babbling more and starting the process of being able to sit up alone. All these things are exciting and happy. I've started going out more and taking her to Mommy and Baby things so that I'm meeting more moms. And if we ever move and I can make my home look presentable I can actually invite them over and have moms to hang out with. I wanted to share how I managed to not gain weight this time in Walt Disney World, and while I'm nowhere close to my pre-pregnancy weight, I've managed to lose/hold steady and I am determined by the time she is 1 to have lost another 20-25 lbs and be thinner then I was pre-pregnancy.

And then Thursday night while I was half asleep, my husband woke me when he was going to bed to tell me there was an earthquake in Japan and since then I've been going around in a daze and watching new reports non-stop. I was relieved to know that everyone I knew in Japan was all right, including my doujinshika acquaintance living in Miyagi-ken south of Sendai. But the devastation is just painful. The US news stations haven't shown it, but I am scared to think about what Matsushima looks like. I wonder about the islands in the bay and the bridges. I wonder about the cheerful old man who worked for the boat company and showed us how the seagulls would come and pull a french fry from his mouth. Before I gave birth to Adina and in that first month, I played with the idea of going to Japan in March. I wanted to be there for Haru to either try one last time to sell doujinshi or to at the very least see my friends again and share my baby. But as Adina grew, I realized it wouldn't quite work out and the weather in Japan in March can be so changeable. I then dreamed of going back to Japan for Golden Week and this time sharing with my husband Tohoku. With the new shinkansen extension, we could easily visit Hirosaki for sakura and I could share with him all the hikes and beauty of Tohoku and he would love it. I would visit Sendai and see the temple I didn't make it to and go to Yamadera as well. I would go back to Matsushima to explore that island I just did not have time to visit. And I would look into interesting onsen to visit in the area. But after my January trip to Disney, I just knew that wasn't feasible. I couldn't easily pump my 4x a day and I wasn't sure how Adina would deal, and so Japan plans were put off until after her birthday. And now... who knows how long. It's not that I don't want to go back, but I also don't want to be in the way. And with a baby in tow I will need to know that I will be able to rely on various first world conveniences.

And to make matters even worse, my poor baby Cookie is not doing as well. For those who don't know, Cookie is more than 16 1/2, making her a quite old cat. We were told she had bad numbers with her liver and that eventually this would kill her, but the Vet made it sound like she could have another year or two. Yesterday, Cookie did not come down to eat dinner. This really worried me. We brought food to her and she ate it, but she's still not really doing as well as I would like. She's not eating as much as she should and she looks weaker. I'm worried we are going to be saying good bye to her sooner than I had expected. Adina is just really noticing Cookie and it is clear she loves the cat. Adina likes to pet Cookie and watch Cookie and to grab at her fur. And Cookie ever the wonderful cat that she is, just takes it. Cookie has really been so good to us and I am going to miss her.
To go into a little more detail, Basil has end stage cancer which is why he now has kidney failure. He's already lost a lot of weight and has steadily been losing interest in food. Each day he eats less and less. We could put him through chemo, lots of future blood tests and injects of fluid, but our vet says at the best that extends his life by a year and a half and I just worry about the sort of life he would be having. I want to make it clear, it's not that we are not willing to spend the money on our cats. Last summer, Basil was diagnosed with hyperthyroidism and we paid a small fortune to get him radiation therapy. However, after treatment he was for all intents and purposes better and he was happy. I just have my doubts about how happy he would be with us trying to force him to live longer. If he were younger I might feel differently, but it's so hard when the cat is already over 14.

I do bring the cats to the vet at least once a year, so it is not as if I've been slacking in their care. Basil in particular had a bunch of appointments and check ups recently with his thyroid issues.

I don't write about my cats here so often, but they're a huge part of my life since I tend to be home quite often. I love just sitting on the couch or the bed and having a cat curled up besides me. It makes me feel loved. I love holding the cats even though they don't enjoy it. They're almost like children... and yet not. I adore them, but I know it's not the same as the baby growing in me. You also... expect to lose your pets. No matter how much you love them, I know I've always expected to outlive Cookie, Basil and Nutmeg, just like I expect to outlive my parents and for Ryuchan to outlive me.

Today Basil was no longer interested in his beloved challah, which has always been his favorite food. I can't say how many times we accidentally forgot to put it away and we found the plastic bag ripped to shreds and large bits of challah missing.

I suspect he doesn't have long now. He's no longer really eating and just seems really sad. I don't want to let him suffer like his sister did. I felt bad that I didn't realize something was so seriously wrong with her when she stopped eating but we were busy with the holidays. I think he and Cookie know he is dying.

Cookie fortunately had a clean bill of health. She's going to be 16 in a week or two.
We just found out Basil is dying of kidney failure. We don't know how much longer he has. We've had him 14 years.
When SoapBox Co. had it's big End of December sale I managed to snag a perfume bottle of I believe Callisto's Caramel Chai perfume. For fun I decided to try it this evening. While My husband was not quite so fond of it, the other male in our house rather likes it. I'm not sure if it has catnip in it or what, but Basil can not stop smelling and licking my wrist. lol This is the first time he has reacted to any of the scents I've tried.

So Caramel Chai, cat approved.
So yesterday, hubby spent the day at home waiting to see if the stove people would come to install the stove. Not being used to repair people, he didn't realize when if the repairperson hasn't shown by the appointed time, you call immediately to find out why. If the company says they will call you back, you call 45 minutes later to see what is happening. Hopefully, next Tuesday he will use these lessons.

On the bright side, he got to spend the day with my sleeping cats:


Cookie


Nutmeg


Basil

Someday, I want to be a cat. lol

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