Thomas P.M. Barnett :: Weblog

We had to put down our oldest of three cats today. Her decline over the past six months was kind of stunning and sad. But she was 8-going-on-9 and lived a good life. I had expected this sort of decline in 2-3 years, but as we know, not everybody gets the long life package.

Sophia had been paired with our Westy Boswell for almost four years. After Boswell went to live with my Mom following my Dad's death, she was alone and unhappy about it for about two years. She spent the last two-plus years with Sascha, another Siberian, but she started withdrawing from play about a year ago. We decided to get a kitten to keep Sascha happy, and that's worked well, but it did not perk up Sophia at all. About four months ago I noticed she stopped grooming, always a sign of a cat suddenly aged, and then in the last few weeks she lost control of her body functions and became a pretty unhappy camper. While you want to accommodate that sort of decline as much as possible, you also have to think about the kids running in and out of your house and the dangers associated with an aged cat's tendency for belligerence--a trait Sophia unfortunately displayed earlier in life (gave Vonne Mei a distinctive pirate scar on her right cheek that took two years to fade). So when I saw that aspect of her personality re-emerging, I made the call with Vonne.

Then I realized I had bad pink eye in both eyes and I think somebody's trying to make me feel guilty over the call. Then again, it was probably handling all of Sophia's recent accidents that actually did the trick, signaling what a sanitary danger she was becoming (don't ask).

Still, you feel bad and the kids feel bad. But we could see this coming and that's why we got Lyra and spent all that money to get her through that early broken leg. So it's not like we don't spend money on animals, it's more that I think it unfair to drag things out when an animal starts shutting down. Far more than just my summers working on a farm, Vonne grew up on one, so we're that strange mix of sentimentality and blunt realism when it comes to pets.

Still, that, the heavy rains, the dark skies, my pink eyes. I'm in a good mood to write a 12-step recovery plan.

Sophia is immortalized on the sidewalk running around the back of the house. As an original plankholder of our then-new house, we carved her name into a sidewalk block, like everybody else.