Good Bye Kitten

I hope everyone reading will pardon me for taking one post out from talking about Aiden to say a few words about my cat Skywise who passed today.

I adopted Skywise from a shelter on July 24th 1993. I filled out the adoption papers and agreed to have her fixed while during the same operation having her front claws removed. I was able to pick her up 3 days later, on my birthday. Since I never had any idea when he actual birthday was, I just always celebrated her birthday right along with mine, since that was the day I got her.

I was just going into my Sophomore year in college, and Sky was my first big responsibility for something other than myself. I nearly lost her in the first week, as the tolls of two massive surgeries on her little kitten body made her susceptible, and she got a pretty bad urinary tract infection. While in my mind I know that during that first week with her I spent a lot of time prying her mouth open to try to force medicine down her throat, my keenest memory of her as a kitten is the very first night I brought her home, I woke up in the middle of the night with a little ball of fur curled up on the bed right in the space under my neck created by the incline of my head being on the pillow. She had curled herself up so tight against me, it was a tremendous bond with this tiny little creature.

She gave me a kitten's share of difficulties, one time knocking an entire glass of orange juice over onto my computer keyboard, desk, and phone. But she was always there for me, always loving to lay in the sun, and my constant companion through all of my misadventures.

A World traveller, Sky made homes in Kentucky, Virginia, Florida and finally Tennessee. From day one she was a great traveller, No car crate for this one, she preferred to explore the car as we went, finally picking a spot on the floormat and calling that home, even for the 12 hour trip from Florida to Kentucky. At the same time, it was Skywise who stopped my travels after graduating college. I had decided that I wanted to move out to Las Vegas to pursue my career in live entertainment, so I packed up my bags and my father and I started driving to Las Vegas. Since this was to be Skywise's first major trip the vet recommended giving her a light sedation, which made her lethargic, but didn't put her out. We had her in a crate for the trip and she was not pleased with that idea at all. Already nervous and doubting about the trip in the first place, my heart broke with my poor kitten crying and not even able to stand up because of the sedative. We made it five hours out of Lexington before I broke down and we went back home. Who knows where my life would have gone if my kitten hadn't been there to test my resolve. Two weeks later I had a job offer from Carnival Cruise Line, an offer I no doubt would not have been in a position to accept if I had gone through with the move to Vegas.

For a time while I worked on the cruise ships Sky had to spend her time with various other family members, my mother and brother to be precise, and had various feline roommates. She wasn't thrilled with sharing her space with other cats, but she eventually came to an arrangement with them to leave each other be. Finally coming to even be willing to share space on our guest bed with Chessie as the sun soaked through the windows and both girls settled in for an afternoon nap.

3 days ago Sky started to act very lethargic and weak, prior to that she was as active a cat as you could hope for being 15 years old. She had lost a lot of weight, but I read over and over that this was common in senior cats and unless accompanied by other symptoms was no cause for alarm. So, with her attitude and behavior being intact, we let her enjoy a little less weight to carry around. I am not sure what exactly it was on Friday that clued me in to how events were unfolding, but she was not acting herself, and I woke up Saturday fully prepared to find that she had gone to sleep Friday night never to wake up. But she was still with us Saturday, and Sunday, but Monday morning found her behavior even worse than it had been the previous days. This afternoon we decided to take her in to see the vet and our concerns were confirmed, in the vet's opinion she had renal failure which is what eventually takes most cats at this late stage in life. As inert and unresponsive as she was and with the dr's concerns that if we brought her home to "die in the peace of her own surroundings" that she may progress to siezures, vommiting, and overall a suffering end, we decided that the best thing to do was to let her go.

As the doctor gave us a few minutes to discuss our options and I sat there with my kitten, she gave one huge sigh, as if to say "I'm done fighting daddy" and we knew. There was no fight left in her. She had had her run, and was ready to cross the rainbow bridge and nap in the sun constantly. The doctor graciously agreed to administer the shot out on the deck where Sky could be in the sun one last time, and a few moments later she was gone. Gone but never to be forgotten.

Unfortunately, the only digital images I can find this evening are the two attached. I have more in photo albums, but I don't know if I am ready to go through those yet.

She was a sweet kitten, and I loved her dearly.

Good-bye Skywise, and Rest well!