llywela | losing a pet is never easy

My parents' little Chess cat died this morning. She was very elderly and had been increasingly frail and senile for a long time now, but she was the feistiest, most indomitable little cat that ever lived and had been with us since before Chelsea, so it's hard to believe she's gone. She spent most of her life being cantankerous and reclusive, but had mellowed tremendously over the last two or three years, as she grew old and senile - but always retained that feisty spirit. Just this summer, she spent a wonderful afternoon dancing around my sister Deb's dog Amber out in the garden - you could practically see the thought bubble above her head: "I reckon I can take it, yeah, I can take it, I can definitely take it. Okay, pounce!" Whereupon we had to hastily intervene because the dog was six times her size! She was such a tiny cat, never reached full adult size, but her personality was enormous!

This is Chess when she was young and healthy

Chess enjoying the garden this summer

And Chess as she was just last week - in her last couple of months she decided to live permanently on this table, alongside both her food and the radiator, and rarely moved off it.

On Christmas Day she was still lively, ate loads of turkey and cried for more. But by Thursday she was starting to decline and then over the weekend she stopped eating. There were no vets open to take her to, and they couldn't have done anything for her anyway. She wasn't in any pain, she was just fading away. She spent her last few days being cuddled and loved and was perfectly content.

So now my parents' household is cat-free for the first time since feline leukaemia swept through the neighbourhood in the mid 1980s. They have lost three cats in as many months - both Chloe and Ginger went missing in September/October and have never been found, poor darlings. :( It has been long enough now that it seems clear they aren't going to be found. So here is one last picture of those two, as well.

Goodbye Chess, Chloe and Ginger. We loved you.

But to end on a happier note, here's a pic of Deb's dog Amber making herself comfortable on my sofa over New Year!

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From:

karenmiller.livejournal.com

Damn. I'm so sorry. Commiserations to you and yours. This icon is of Harley, my own Chess. He's still with me, at 22, but frail and slowly, very slowly, winding down. I know it's almost a guarantee I'll lose him this year, so I'm treasuring every moment. You love them all, of course, but when they've been with you as many years as this, the landscape is shifted seismically when they go.

Hugs.

PS -- a story today about a cat that came home after 4 years away. And my Maxie vanished for weeks, then turned up. So while not wanting to be stupidly Pollyanna ... there are sometimes miracles.

saberivojo.livejournal.com

I'm so sorry for your loss but it seems like Chess was loved and that is worth it all in the end.

BTW, Amber looks adorable.

bogwitch.livejournal.com

:(

Poor kittens, how sad! Though you never know, the missing ones might yet turn up. A woman at work lost one of her cats in July and that turned up a few weeks ago.