i L i n d . n e t

Mr. Duke and Ms. Maka were born in 2002 on a sofa bed in the little Waikiki apartment that I use as an office. I created all sorts of nests around the edges of the room. Their mother ignored those and sat in the middle of the sofa. By the time I arrived, she had deposited three kittens in the middle of the room.

Of the three, two survived. In this photo, Duke is on the left, Maka on the right. Duke always looked more worried. Maka was more confident. They were quite a pair! We enjoyed the duo for a while, eight or ten weeks, as I recall. Almost twins, and they stayed that way even after being separated by adoption for years. Both grew into wonderful 19 pound hairballs, incredibly thick fur that constantly sheds.

Maka was adopted by a two wonderful friends who gave her a tremendous home. But despite all the love, she developed feline diabetes. This week she lost that battle.

We haven’t seen her for years, except through periodic photos in which she looks exactly like Duke.

Duke now has an appointment on Sunday afternoon with Ann Sakamoto, our main vet at VCA in Kaneohe. Duke is obviously “at risk” due to his weight, but maybe early screening and intervention can stave off the worst outcome.

Ms. Maka’s people know how much we appreciate them and are feeling their loss.