Jan 23


Storm 1995-2009

by Terry 23 January 2009


I’m crying as I write this, but I had to release Storm’s spirit last night.  He was in kidney failure with very remote chances of ever improving, and he was tired and in pain.  I couldn’t let it go on.  It broke my heart to give the consent.

He was fancy and regal, and loved to perch on the arm of the couch behind my head, just where I could reach up and scratch his ears or rub his nose.  He wasn’t a lap cat, but loved to be close to his people.  For his early years he slept with Julie, then after she left, with Meredith, until she too departed.  “Going to college” became a euphemism for being left behind, but he had enough love to adapt and forgive them whenever they came home.  Now he’s “gone to college,” and we’re left here without him.

We suspected he was gay, because he had “gentlemen callers,” as Meredith named them, who came to visit.  He’d sit outside with them companionably, never fighting.  Gay or straight, he was satisfied with occasional company, and they seemed to make him happy.

He loved milk, but he wouldn’t drink it from a dish.  Instead he’d wait until one of us had a glass sitting on the coffee table and he’d delicately dip is paw in and suck the milk from that.  He drank water from his dish the same way.

Talking about him is making me feel better but I hope reading this doesn’t make Julie and Meredith cry.  Girls, I promise I’ll package up all my pictures of him and send them to you when you’re ready.

I’ll miss you, Stormy Weasel.   There will never be another one like you.

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10 Comments

10 Responses to “Storm 1995-2009”

  1. Ahistoricality on January 23rd, 2009 8:12 am

    Very sorry to hear, but it sounds like Stormy Weasel lived an excellent cat life.

    We are brief as a summer lightning
    We are swift as swallow’s flight
    We are sparks that spiral upward in the darkness in the night
    We are frost upon a window
    We won’t pass this way again
    In the end only love remains     — Garnet Rogers  (Quote)

  2. Julie on January 23rd, 2009 9:19 am

    I’m still sniffly today, but I pulled out a few pictures last night and it makes me feel better to see them. Seeing his smug little weasel face that said, “all ur ceereul milks r belong tu me cuz I’m da boss kittah” reminds me that we took good care of him and he was a very happy kitty while he was here.  (Quote)

  3. Tori Lennox on January 23rd, 2009 1:37 pm

    *hugs*  (Quote)

  4. Billie on January 23rd, 2009 3:06 pm

    Oh, I’m so sorry, Terry. Losing a loving (and loved) pet is so very hard. My thoughts are with you.  (Quote)

  5. Stephen Leigh on January 24th, 2009 6:43 am

    I’m sorry to hear that. Letting a beloved pet go is extraordinarily difficult, even when necessary. You have my sympathy. *hugs*  (Quote)

  6. Terry on January 24th, 2009 8:13 pm

    Thanks, everyone. I’m crying a little less today, so that’s progress. One day at a time.  (Quote)

  7. CGHill on January 25th, 2009 9:22 am

    Poor fellow. Still, what matters in the long run is not that he’s gone, but that he was here in the first place.

    This is never, ever easy.  (Quote)

  8. Scrivener on January 26th, 2009 3:21 pm

    I’m sorry for your loss.  (Quote)

  9. Terry on January 27th, 2009 1:43 pm

    Thanks, CG and Scrivener. I’m really having a hard time with this, and emotional upsets knock me for a loop that lasts for weeks. I’m trying really hard not to let myself spin out of control.  (Quote)

  10. jo(e) on January 27th, 2009 4:55 pm

    Oh, how difficult.

    Hugs.  (Quote)

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