My Artsy Pet pursuits: Bye-bye, Babykat

Da Sprout! at about 5 years of age, 2002

T'was not the happiest weekend at Casa del Meezer. Long story short, Sprout! has now departed this world. Her longstanding heart condition was not staying stable despite treatment. It had probably been going on for a while, but kidney failure was noted to have manifested last week. Our wonderful Dr. Bonnie, who I swear has been able to resurrect roadkill at times, had to break the hard news that there was nothing to be done. The treatment for one condition aggravates the other; the best thing was to keep her comfortable as long as she was content, for neither disease was acutely painful and as long as the congestive heart problems didn't restrict her breathing, she'd just decline gradually.

Unfortunately, gradually turned out to be only about 48 hours after diagnosis. There are various ways you know it's time for an animal-buddy to have a little help to pass on comfortably, and with cats, it's often when they refuse all food and water, and can't get to their litter. Sprout! was done with us on Saturday, and Dr. Bonnie was kind enough to come for a housecall late that evening, as her breathing began to be a struggle.

Losing Sprout! is an ending of a number of things. She's my last Guelph cat - adopted from the Guelph Humane Society as a dirty, nondescript looking kitten in 1997. She's the last cat who directly knew my first two cats, Lenny and Lucy, the ones that really set me on the Meezer-devoted path I've had for a while. She was my last pre-pancreatitis, pre-diabetes cat, my last "school" cat, the last cat who was "mine", having been with me a couple of years before I met Adam. While there's nothing wrong with my life now and I'm not sure I'd want to be back to my dingy student apartment where the litter box was bigger than my bathtub - it's a little sad to say goodbye to some of that nostalgia. Feels like I have to put away a piece of the past with my Babykat.

Sprout! was my only kitten (hence the Babykat) - all my other cats have been adults when they joined me. I've had her longer than any other (so far) as well - 13 years to the day, in fact. Her adoption day was October 2, 1997. We said goodbye October 2, 2010.