Growing up in the country, I've had my share of cats. (Only one dog, which I suppose places me solidly in the feline camp. Also once a duck. But I digress.) So when I say that in my entire life, I have never had a cat as bright, inquisitive, or downright peculiar as Magellan Niidas Holm proved to be, you'll understand I ain't just whistling Dixie.
Maggie died today of complications related to lymphoma. We tried, in her final hours, to make her as comfortable as we could, which is to say not nearly as comfortable as we would have liked. Such is the way of things, I suppose.
I'm not going to spend all day eulogizing a housecat on my blog, but I will say this: Maggie was a dear, sweet friend, and she will be missed. Godspeed, Maggie Niidas Holm.
11 comments:
Oh, gosh. You have my sympathies.
Sorry to hear that, Chris.
Thanks, David and Steph. Honestly, this marks the end of a fairly horrible process I touched on in an earlier post, but the fact of seeing it coming doesn't do much to soften the blow. I've always been very attached to my pets -- I can't keep fish, because they're too damn disposable -- and Maggie was so sweet and odd and charming for the nine years we had her, the loss is that much worse. The house won't ever feel quite the same without her.
Oh, Chris, I am SO sorry about Maggie. I can certainly empathize with you. My cat, Brandi, lived 17 years, and she died a long time ago, but I still think about her.
Thanks, Brenda. They do have a way of getting under your skin, don't they?
I still miss every one of our dogs and cats. Each was an individual and lovable in his or her own way.
Thinking back, David, I'm the same way. And to think, I like 'em better than most people even though they can't tell me what a brilliant writer I am! (Of course, they can't tell me I'm a crap writer, either, so maybe that's part of the appeal.)
So sorry...
Thanks, Sophie.
The thing eating into my writing right this sec is the fact that things got so bad in the end with Maggie, our other cat (Binkley, after the character in Bloom County) had a massive freak-out and sprayed all over the whole damn house. So today, prime writing time is spent shampooing, vacuuming, disinfecting, and otherwise cleaning, so that we can hopefully reintroduce her to the rest of the house without another meltdown (she's been shut in our spare room a while now).
Honestly, at this point, we're just looking forward to a return to normalcy.
It is strange how animals know when their kith are soon to pass on. When I was a kid, my cat O'Malley hissed and scratched at our other cat Yodi for a week before any of us knew she was ill. Binks will need some extra attention for a while.
Sorry for your loss.
Thanks, Lyman.
It's hard to fault them their instincts in that regard, and although they didn't get along as the end neared, Binkley is certainly mourning now. But we don't mind giving her a little extra attention; truth be told, we need it, too.
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