Back with some musings

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A couple of people here mentioned that I haven't posted in a while. I'm still on Hive everyday, doing curation but it's been an exceptionally cold and miserable winter, made worse by electricity blackouts. I also went back to work as soon as we were out of hard lockdown and I'm working more hours, which is good because times are tough but I lost my cat Tom in July and lost any desire to write much. After some time off to process and a lot of digging in the garden, I feel like writing again.

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What happened to Tom? I posted about it here and things got rough with him very soon after the first round of blood tests suggested declining kidney function. I was supposed to get his urine tested to confirm kidney disease but every time I took him to the vet, his bladder was empty. Tom ate at first, then stopped, then needed an antinausea injection to eat again and ate relatively well for about 10 days and then stopped eating again. I tried various combinations of a couple of different antinausea medications and appetite stimulants but none really worked well and it was clear from his behaviour that he felt nauseous, even if he wasn't actually vomiting. There were more vet visits but after a month the vet pointed out that he had lost over 10% of his body weight and said that it was clear that other processes at work. I couldn't disagree and stuck to my original decision not to put him through lots of expensive, invasive testing. The vet agreed with me that it wasn't necessarily wise because we could get a diagnosis but that didn't guarantee that his condition would be treatable. She told me that it wasn't fair to let him starve and that was inescapable. We made one last effort to get him eating but it didn't work and so the heartbreaking decision was made.

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It's always true that you never realise the hole that an absence makes until it happens although Tom once was missing for 5 days before he returned home and it was then that I realised that although I often thought of him as annoying, I would miss him terribly. He really was a quirky little cat. Very much the underdog amongst the large alpha males in my household, he nevertheless knew how to make his way through the world.

He's buried in the garden, where he enjoyed spending his time and I have been building a rockery close to where he rests: the physical labour has helped me work through my sense of loss. I'll show some pictures of that tomorrow - it's almost finished. Here's a very overexposed picture of a certain little furball soaking up the winter sun just before I started digging, 3 weeks before his passing.

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23 comments
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Nice to see you posting again @nikv and I'm sorry for your loss of Tom; I am familiar with that type of pain.

I do remember your post/s about him seemingly not doing well suddenly health-wise and recall your short mention of having "lost" one of your cats, in a comment perhaps.

My backyard has become a mini pet cemetery with animals I have laid to rest there for about fifteen years. Not all the pets were mine...(cats, kittens, a dog, a bird and two possums) all of which have a story attached.

I wish you well.

Ciao, my friend.

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Thank you and thank you again for the contribution towards his bills. Yes I do have a small cemetery going too, and it will only grow. To quote Tennyson:

'Tis better to have loved and lost,
Than never to have loved at all

You had a possum?

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(Edited)

Thanks @nikv for the 'Tennyson' quote, I tend to agree.

I had a couple of young possums coming through my pet door to warm up by the radiator a couple of winters ago😎 They probably learned the maneuver from my cat friends. They also stole the cat food, so I had to stop leaving it down at night.

Surprisingly, the cats didn't seem to mind them scurrying along in the yard or porch from the time they first appeared as babies (the size of small rats)

As they grew, the possums would fight each other; I guess a territorial thing? One buried, I had found dead in the yard, another one had gotten hit by a car and a police officer shot it to end it's suffering.

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Good of you to be kind to the possums, so many are not. We don't have them here but I have read that they eat large numbers of ticks. That makes them very useful critters in the larger scheme of things

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Nice to see you posting again. Sorry for your lost. Tom might not be around, but he will always live on in your heart. And, on the bright side, no more suffering for him.

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That's true. Thank you

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What a beautiful cat. Such unusual color and markings. Sad to hear his story.

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He lived a long time despite many health problems. His end was shockingly sudden but I think he had a good enough life, overall

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You did good. Can only imagine how tough that must be.

Beautiful Tom. Thinking of you both x

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So relaxed on the last photo...
He was a beautiful boy! <3

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Believe it or not @nikv, I think I know what the cat is thinking. I would say, something like: 'I stopped so many curations and take more of a ride in Hive'. Belatedly, happy Caturday and happy Sunday.

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Thank you Juan. Have a good week

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Hi. I miss your posts.
I'm sorry about what happened to your cat Tom. He physically resembles my cat Copito.
I lost my little Tronkin turtle in July. It still hurts to remember.

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Hola @gertu, good to hear from you. Sorry about Tronkin too, he was very cute

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Tronkin liked to get away for three to five days, but then she always showed up again.
This time she escaped and outside there are many cats, and very large rats that even cats do not hunt.
I think something bad happened to him. It never appeared again. She was very small and defenseless but very mischievous.
I don't know what happened to him and it makes me sad I don't know.

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Not knowing is always the worst part

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This is very tough! It took me six months to get better about losing my cat. You could always talk to him in your mind until it’s his time to be reincarnated. He’s so lucky to have you looking after him.

Stay strong and healthy.

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Thank you. It does take time to clear the mind again

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