Poor Kitty

I'm gearing myself up, mentally, for the well deserved tongue lashing I will receive from my cat's veterinarian when I call tomorrow to schedule an appointment for the oldest feline, Lucy Snowe*. Poor kitty has an infected tooth, needs a cleaning and has not been to the vet in three years.

In my defense, all three cats spend 100% of their time indoors, are very healthy (infected tooth notwithstanding) and have been taken to an open clinic to be vaccinated against rabies.

Same poor kitty is now hiding underneath the guest room bed, slightly woozy from the painkiller and very unhappy with with me for administrating the painkiller and antibiotic. The emergency vet prescribed the drugs to ease the infection in her tooth and to dope her up enough that she forgets it hurts when she eats. I caught her at the water bowl this morning and I'm going to put out some soft food to tempt her later today.

In the grand scheme of things, obsessing and spending considerable sums of money** on a thirteen year old, six pound Turkish Angora mix is a bad idea. With the economy diving ever closer to the bottom, I should be concerned about my retirement instead of squandering money on a cat. In fact, I should be embarrassed that I'm about to spend as much money as a month's rent to make sure that she feels better.

But I'm not. I'm thankful. I'm thankful that most of my friends are pet owners who understand the emotional benefit of outlaying large sums of cash to keep their feline and canine family members healthy. I'm thankful to have had so many years with a companion who serves as an anchor between my life as a single graduate student and my life now.

Like Lisa, I have looked at Lucy recently and realized that she is beginning the end of her life. At some point in the next several years I am going to have to make the painful decision to let her go. I'm not looking forward to that moment, to losing one of the constants of my life. But living creatures are never constant. Whether cat or dog or bird or human being, they grow, change and eventually leave us.

*Why yes, I'm a fan of Charlotte Bronte. Why do you ask?
**Cleaning a cat's teeth is expensive as they must be fully sedated with general anesthesia for the procedure.