So my day sucked on a cosmic level as I had to euthanize my beloved cat (pictured below in healthier times -- sort of looks like one of Atrios' cats). .She was about sixteen years old and had been suffering from a variety of maladies that had seen her lose about 40% of her body weight over the last few months, so it shouldn't have come as a shock. But her rapid down hill slide over the last 48 hours did catch me by surprise. When I woke up this morning and found she couldn't really stand on her own I knew the time had come. I worked from home so that I could be with her all day, giving her syringes full of water and hoping for a miraculous recovery. It was not to be.
I often joked that she was the only good thing to come of the Bush-Gore electoral debacle. She belonged to a Washington Post reporter who got stuck down in Florida for several weeks. Sam hated to be alone and we were asked to serve as kitty foster parents. She ended up staying for eight years plus. I can't really imagine waking up tomorrow and not having to feed her. Martin Amis wrote that "what we take from our pets (without trying and without asking) is a lesson about death, an overview of the shorter span." I hope there is a bit more to it than that. Time for another drink and a sad night's sleep.
