A Death in Catland. Cattyhop Leaves Me.

Cattyhop has died. She died on the way to the vet. It was a frantic thing. I thought she was trying to vomit and pulled over. Then her eyes went blank and fixed and her gums went white, like in just a second.

Not like the Church Ditch kitten who died last week, whose gums remained pink for so long, even into rigor mortis, so long I tried to revive him and feared he was not dead and accidentally burying him alive.

I believe she had a heart attack.

I could tell her heart wasn't working right. It sounded like loop de loop in its beat. I could tell her blood pressure was high because even the veins on the backs of her ears were sticking out. Blood pressure, heart and kidneys are all tied up together.

I worried about that bag of fluids I opened and started on her last night. She seemed to crash afterwards, not improve. Was there something wrong in the electrolyte mix in those fluids, I wondered.

When she was examined in August the vet thought she would show kidney failure in the blood work and yet she didn't. Her kidneys were hard and as tiny as you could imagine. She rebounded after three weeks in my bathroom.

When confined this time, she ate, used the litterbox, had normal bowel movements but still would not drink water. She was dehydrated again so I began the fluids, which did not help this time, and only made her far worse.

She made it til morning but had the heart attack.

Her most treasured friends here were Comet, from Heatherdale trailer park and also a bobtail; Dex, who was abandoned three times before arriving here as a permanent; Electra, my elderly feral whom I pulled out of an electrical wiring box at an FCCO clinic in Salem, and Deaf Miss Daisy, whom Cattyhop admired, almost worshipped. I had Electra near her last night. I held Cattyhop while Electra head bumped me then Cattyhop. I'm glad Cattyhop got a last head bump from her best friend.

At one time in their lives, Electra and Cattyhop were not friends at all. In fact, Cattyhop and Comet had bullied Electra interminably. Until, that is, one day Electra turned the other cheek. After Cattyhop came at her, when she was trying to use the litterbox, Electra swatted at her, but her paw remained on Cattyhops' head. Then, Electra leaned forward and licked Cattyhop's forehead. From then on, they were best friends.

One of my best friends has died. From that little starving kitten with squirting diarrhea and no hope, to best friend and night cuddler. She lived five short years. She spent her last night being held and saying goodbye to her friends here.

Goodbye my blessed little girl. Goodbye.