It's hard to say goodbye...

It’s hard to say goodbye,

But then, I’m corny that way.   

A long time ago I had a cat named Jett.  She was the most different personality of a cat I had ever had.  We played tricks on each other and she died too young.  I found a tumor between her shoulder blades one day and when I asked the vet what it was, he thought it was a broken bit off the cat’s shoulder blade and we cogitated on how a cat would get a bit broken off its shoulder blade.  A few days later, that little lump was bigger and I rushed her back to Dr. Mike and Dr. Mike was mad at himself for not thinking it through the first time.  He said Dr. Mary was going to give him what-for for missing a diagnosis.   

Jett had a form of cancer that was fast growing and was caused by injecting parvo-virus vaccine.  Because of cats like mine, vets changed the way they gave that vaccine and now give it in a hip because you can amputate a leg and save the pet if it has this rare form of reaction to the shot.  

 Dr. Mary operated on Jett 3 times to remove each returning lump and the last time Jett almost died from the surgery because the anesthetic bothered her stomach.  It took me a while to figure out she was starving to death because she was unable to eat.  Talk about guilt.  I learned how to make tuna soup and feed her every two hours until one day she got caught eating the hard food again and had to stop getting babied by me.  

 When the tumor returned for the fourth time in about a 24 month period, Dr. Mary let me make the choice about another surgery or letting her go.  I decided to let it grow and let Jett enjoy one more summer.  I watched her sleeping in all her favorite places in the sun all summer and late in the fall I called Dr. Mike and asked him if he would come to my house to let Jett go off to the great beyond without one more trip to the vet.  I held her in my arms and watched her slip off. She was only 4 years old.

Cats are amazing creatures and are a great source of love to sooth the soul.

My dear sister came in one day and told me to look on-line at a cat rescue place in the next county to the west and see if I could find one to fill the hole Jett left.  There was a cat there who jumped right off the internet page into my heart and I called and made an appointment to go meet the lady who had him.  He had a big gray bullseye on his side and beautiful  green eyes.   

When I got to her house, she had a cage full of black cats in the garage that she was holding on to until after Halloween because apparently people do unspeakable things to black cats in October.   We walked right past the black cats and into her kitchen.   

She took some information from me and then called “Ryon” and this little cat came tearing around the corner going merow merow merow and rubbed up against me and asked me to take him home.  I signed the papers, paid the $80 donation and out the door we went.  The lady said her husband was going to be so glad he was gone because Ryon was a talker and kept her husband awake all night. If it wasn’t from his incessant talking, it was because he dived under the covers between them and claimed his part of the bed between the two people sleeping in it.  

Ryon did the same things here.  He talked his head off and he slept under the covers.  He would get ejected from the bed and then would wait until we fell asleep and under the covers again, snuggled up at my tummy.  I loved this cat.  He was special.  He filled the big hole Jett had left and now he has left me.  I was sitting in my chair binding a quilt and heard his toe nails in the couch and looked up to watch him loll over.  He was gone.  I would guess he had a stroke, he was here one second and gone the next.

This big brave cat hid in a basket on top of the dresser in my sister’s closet.  He did not let anyone see him and rarely made an appearance if there were more than the appropriate number of people in the house.  On occasion of late, he would come out to talk to a customer of mine.  He hadn’t been sleeping under the covers this winter yet, but he still snuggled with me at night until Tom came to bed.

Today the pain is raw and hard to get past and I will miss him a lot at certain times of the day, but I do believe he is on the rainbow bridge with Fiona and Angus and all the other pets who made such a difference in my life over the years and I will get to see them all again when it’s my turn to go.