Precious

Our cat, Precious, died on July 3rd. She had been not well for some time. After a lifetime of being overweight, she became very thin. She spent most of her life by herself in the basement, but the last few weeks of her life was spent close to us. She also wanted to be outside and would follow me around the yard. So it was evident that some thing was amiss. She was known to overeat and had battled diabetes. My husband kept asking if we should bring her in for a last ditch effort, but I knew the signs. It was time to let her go.

Her last days were spent laying on a dog bed we had put in the living room for her; at times she seemed in a dazed stupor. I would hold her as often as possible; taking her out on the porch for some fresh air. Hope, our other cat, abandoned her in the end. She must have smelled death and wanted no part of it.

I had hoped to be there when she finally left, but I was out of town when Brian found her in the basement. So he wrapped her in the material I had picked and buried her along with a note from each of us, a picture of Hope and Precious and a full bowl of cat food. She was given a send off much like an Egyptian queen.

So ends the era of Precious waking me up on the roof in the middle of the night and howling for food at 5:00 a.m. She was a most annoying creature, but I loved her nonetheless.

Thought for the day: You can miss a toothache if you have had it long enough..Kenneth Peterson (my dad)