As those who read me regularly know, we have for almost two decades been living with rescued cats of one sort or another, at one point having 5. Several years ago we lost Angelica as her body failed her in early March 2012. On August 13, 2014, Cielito died of congestive heart failure in my wife's arms as we were rushing him to the emergency veterinary clinic.
In recent years two of our three remaining cats had health problems. Elsa is fine, LionEl Tiger suffered a series of strokes, and needs to have fluids injected under his skin several times a week, but still loves to cuddle.
And then there is Felicity, the litter mate of Angelica, who had survived hyperthyroidism (and yes, there was radiation treatment for that), and then last Spring had to have one rear leg amputated because there was a cancerous tumor that went all the way around it. She adjusted, as her oncologist said she would, but was getting thin in recent weeks.
Yesterday afternoon she was lying quietly on the floor. When I reached over to touch her, she did not hiss at me as she usually does, but sniffed my hand, then let me stroke her heat and shoulder.
I’m glad I did that. This morning I woke my wife at 5:30 because she was going to drive north for the funeral of a friend. That now will not happen.
When I went to check on Felicity, she was in full rigor, having passed away sometime yesterday.
My wife is devastated. Ironically, we were going to take her in this evening for her annual checkup.
Felicity, our little shy lady, passed quietly ion her sleep, as far as we can tell. We did not have to put her to sleep, nor did we have to try to medicate her regularly, which would have been difficult — she has always been very skittish.
In a couple of hours I am reporting to the school where I beging teaching January 4. I will spend several hours getting trained in software, getting access to lesson plans, and doing a little set-up of my classroom.
Then I will come home. The rest of this day will be dedicated to remembering Felicity, to comforting my wife, to both of us mourning.
We chose not to have children of our own. Our pets have been our family. Since we have been together for over four decades we have been through multiple losses. But three in just over 3 years is hard, especially knowing that LionEl also could leave us at any time.
We are honored to have been able to share our lives with all our four-footed family members.
We already miss our shy Felicity.
We remember our other departed four-footed friends.
We mourn our loss, but we also consider ourselves blessed to have known Felicity.
Peace.