Here’s your latest peek behind the scenes of our feline-centric household.
Kali and Kinikini are both doing really well. What good cats they have turned out to be, as you’ll see in this week’s photos.
The first couple of pictures show Kinikini in a spot he discovered and has claimed, on a shelf high in our closet. He’s found a comfy bed on a stack of my jeans. It took us a while to figure out where his hiding place was. Initially, he stayed in the back of the shelf and was hard to spot up there. Now we know where to look.
But Romeo is now taking center stage, and not in a good way. He’s become my primary concern, as we have to make the judgement of when his life is no longer worth living. Most of his simple pleasures aren’t available any more. He can’t jump onto our bed for a nap, although he can limp across the room to find a spot of sun. Eating is a chore although, with some encouragement, he’ll do a bit of it. Not a lot. He hurts, even with his daily pill. Kali and Kinikini both respond to his occasional cries, and come running over to provide comfort. We’ve been here before, with past generations of cats.
We all just have to feel our way along for the next days and weeks. We’ve always felt the cats would, in the end, let us know when they’re ready. These days, we’re trying to be open and attentive to those whatever signals Romeo is sending.
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I think perhaps Romeo is thankful he has had two new companions for the past several months that have made his days a bit more interesting, show respect for him and give him his space as well.
Personally, unless he shows signs of unbearable suffering, I’d let Romeo live out his days naturally in the home he loves and with the beings he knows. However, I cannot imagine the heart wrenching emotions you and Meda are going through (again). All I can say is that you should feel at peace knowing you’ve made his existence comfortable, safe and memorable and in turn, he has repaid with love, happiness and cat hairs everywhere.
All the best to all of you. I always look forward to Fridays with anticipation now.
To WhatMeWorry: Good thoughts. But I wonder whether it really makes sense to wait until “unbearable suffering”
occurs. That might be unfair to Romeo. Complicating all this is the fact that we don’t know how animals experience and express pain. Maybe he’s already experiencing unbearable pain.
Indeed.
I found a kitten a few years ago that was limping and had an obviously swollen leg. Took her to the vet for an x-ray (bloody expensive!) and discovered her left front humerous was badly broken. Looked like she was shot by a pellet gun as there were some fragments. No calls out, no crying, no obvious suffering. After a few opinions, the consensus was amputation.
My friend who accompanied me to the doc’s told me to hold off and wait to see how she did…that perhaps powers higher than us would see things through (she’s not a particularly religious individual but was raised a Japanese Christian. Not at all dogmatic compared to our homegrown fundamental types). I got some pretty powerful pain killers prescribed via a compounding pharmacy and gave her tiny doses. Lo and behold, nearly 4 years later, my little sweet kitten is a fully grown, beautiful, graceful cat that runs, jumps and zooms through the house with the best of them and you would have never though she was in the predicament she was in.
Of course every case is different but this was my experience.
All the best!
So sorry to hear Pono is having such a rough time. I’m confident you folks will make the right decisions for him, and keep him comfortable in the meantime.