Speaking as the one who cleans the litter boxes, I do, darling girl, I do!

Mom is with Maggie right now, holding her head in her hand and stroking her ear with her thumb. This is it, then. No false alarms, no accidental poisonings. She's really going. I never thought that I will miss her attempts to trip us ( even though it was not her intention! ). I will miss her chirpy meows, her constant pestering to get me to pet her, and most of all, I will miss her. Maggie was a wonderful little cat. She is also the strongest cat I ever knew. She has been through Hell and back so many times it's ridiculous. Only when she came to live with us did she find salvation. The last year and a half of her life has been the best. I will never forget you, Maggie. My only regret is that our time together is short. I remember that summer that we almost lost her. One can imagine the joy I felt when we found out that she was going to be okay. For the rest of the year, Maggie has been what we call a " love glutton ". She simply cannot be loved enough. And now, it all ends tonight. She won't be here next month. There were so many things that we like to through together. This Halloween, not to mention this Thanksgiving, this Christmas, and this New Year's Eve, we will be missing one member of the family. We had hoped that Maggie will stay with us a little bit longer. But I guess the lifetime of ill-treatment has just finally caught up with her just now. I never thought that today will be the day that we part ways. I thought that we are going to do our normal routines, with the cats pestering us, Mom cooking dinner and using the computer at the same time, Spiritfire doing whatever the hell she pleases ( much to my chagrin ), and me doing my own thing. When Mom told me that she thinks Maggie was dying, I was shocked. The events of the past summer are replaying, but this time, the ending will be different. I am faced with the likely possibility that Maggie will not be here tomorrow. My Dad fell in love with this little cat. He will be so devastated. I don't know why I am not feeling overwhelming sorrow right now; like I did with Sassy and Sebastian. Maybe it is because I have a chance to say goodbye to her or maybe my Mom is doing all the crying for us. I do feel tears in my eyes, though. I had high hopes for Maggie, that she will be strong enough to go exploring the woods with us and do all kinds of things that our cats can do. The Lord of Samhain is his boisterous little self, wanting to be let out. We are not letting the cats out tonight, as it is so close to Halloween. Maggie looks like she is in a trance right now. I am hoping that Dad will come home soon so he will say goodbye to her one last time. She may accidentally trip us, raise some serious stink, and pester us for attention, but we will always love her. I was so proud that, on her last trip to the vet's, Maggie didn't make a mess. Maggie was a fighter and a survivor. She has that inner strength that is even hard for me to comprehend. There might have been times that she would have given up, but she didn't. She has been through so many hardships in her short life that it was a miracle that she even lived this long. I will miss you, my little Fur Sister. I will miss you, Mary Magdalene "Maggie", Thief of Hearts.

Dad has just come home. He's frustrated, as I could tell when I said hello to him, he snapped at me. He is now saying not nice-things about everything in general. Everyone's frustrated tonight. I can't take it anymore! I'm going to my room! As I type, he is now with Maggie, talking with her. I wish things would just get better for all of us.

Miss Maggie hasn't given up. She keeps trying to walk. Her hind legs aren't under her complete control but she isn't giving up so we won't either. Skywise is feeding her kitten formula right now and she just let him know she doesn't care for the liquid diet -- she clawed him -- but she can't eat the hard food she likes and until she can, it is kitten formula in a syringe. Keep the prayers to Bast going, people. We're gonna need Divine help with this one....

Maggie is refusing all attempts to give her food (kitten formula) or water. She has made her decision and all we can do now is wait. Skywise is with her now as he will be leaving for work soon and she may not be here when he comes back. I wish he didn't have to go and so does he. As weak as she is, I don't think she will wait much longer to cross over. I know that Sassy and Sebastian are waiting for her, along with the Grey Huntress, a wise old gray cat who lived with us for many years.
And I know that Bast will take care of our little love and when the time is right, she will send another little one to us to care for and love.
Blessed Be Her Name, Bast.

Sorry about the double post. It is starting to happen. Maggie is twitching in her sleep and the twitches have intensified. Mom is at her side. This is it, then. The end.



Edit: Estimated time of death: 4:42pm EDT Goodbye, Magdalene. I will miss you.

I am SO glad she had the time with your family that she did. It sounds as if Bast came and led her personally on a hunt to the otherworld. Don't feel sad for her--she had the happiest part of her life as a member of your family.

I know it seems "fated" for you to take in, and quickly lose new feline family members. I think this happens because Bast keeps sending you her soul-hurt children for healing before moving on.


(((HUGS)))



Black Rose

I need a hug right now.

Skywise was asking the Lord of Samhain today if he would like someone to play with. We had been thinking about getting another kitten since it wasn't looking like Maggie was ever going to be robust enough to seriously keep up with the "Little Boy." We thought she would stay with us as a mostly indoor kitty.  Now that she has moved on, we will be on the lookout for the next fur child that Bast wants us to take care of. The only thing we ask, Great One, is that we be allowed to keep the next one -- and the ones we have now -- for a long, long time. We are so very tired of grief and digging graves....

I am so glad to hear that there is a declawing procedure that is more humane to the kitty, not to mention easier on the paws. I have the Hearth Queen purring on my lap right now. I guess she knows that I was feeling down lately, so she came to cheer me up. She is a wonderful cat who is always there for me when I needed her the most. I just love her, claws and all. I am wishing you and Lexie the best of luck! Mom and I want to hear from you when all is said and done!

The Hearth Queen showed considerable spirit this morning when it came time to load her into her carrier! It took both Skywise and me to get it done. The vet's verdict was UTI, likely in the early stages or a mild case. She's on antibiotics and I'll be watching her to make sure that they are working. If her symptoms don't subside, we will likely take her back in and have her checked for kidney stones -- thanks, BR!

No problem hon! I wanted to know what could be causing the symptoms she was having too, so looking stuff up was no big deal.

As I posted elsewhere, Lexie is fine, and only seems puzzled that her invisible claws don't have the same "grab" on the boys' ears as they did before. The boys are playing with her more now that she isn't hurting them, and everyone is much happier now.

The roomie's cat isn't doing so well. He has very high blood sugar from the diabetes we diagnosed the day of Lexie's surgery. The decision is to let him go without treatment at this time. He would be more traumatized by the treatment than by the complications of the disease, so it is more humane to let him go untreated. We do know this will lead to his death a bit sooner, but we want him happy as long as he can be, and not terrified of every new day. His levels would require a minimum of three shots a day, as well as testing his sugar levels several times a day. He does not do well with needles at all, and really gets worked up....to the point of panting and drooling from fear. Since he is not having pain from the complications, we have changed his diet to help with the sugar levels, and we will take it day by day from here. I don't expect him to go for more than a few months though, or less. He had a bad start in life, and never really recovered from that healthwise. We will miss him terribly when he goes on, but none of us see a point in making the time he has left bad for him just to keep him here longer for us.

On the bright side, he is accepting affection from all of us more often now, and seems to appreciate it more. So more than ever, he knows he is loved and cared about, even by the dog. He has even let her lick him a couple of times. Not bad at all, since I still wear the scars from when he thought I was trying to feed him to her!


Black Rose