Farewell to My Friend

Cali left me last night. She was at home and I was with her. I buried her this morning in a cool spot right at the edge of our woods. She was a good and true friend, and I will miss her.

Last week when I brought her home from the vet, I was hopeful that maybe the tide had turned on her slow decline. She was good for a couple of days, drinking lots of water from the bowl (as opposed as an occasional sip from the faucet), and eating. Though after sampling the vast array of tempting kibble I purchased for her, she managed to convince me that she would only eat and gain weight if I gave her the canned food again. So I did. But on Monday she began to lose interest in food, and gagged and heaved at the liquid antibiotic I was shoving down her throat with a syringe. I finally listened to her request and stopped forcing anything on her.

Over the next three days she gradually quit eating, drank less water, became less steady on her feet, and began to lose control of her bladder. Last night at 11:25 she'd had enough and gave up the fight.

As all of my girls, Cali was a stray who found me. She showed up in our back yard in Florida one January when the weather was quite cold for Florida. We brought her into our utility room at night so she could stay warm with the space heater we placed there. Then one night it was going down to 19 degrees, and even the space heater wouldn't have kept that outside room warm. So we placed her in the spare bedroom. She didn't go outside again for the next 13 years! She had been spayed and declawed when I found her, and was obviously a house cat and enjoyed every minute of it.

I have so many warm memories of time shared with this special cat. The vet estimated her age at about 3 when she came to live with me, and she's been with me through so much. I was privileged to share the prime of her life, and I'm so sorry that she's gone. Still, she wasn't well and wasn't going to get well. Aged 16 is a ripe old age for a kitty, and I hope the life I provided her was as good as the love and companionship she provided me.