| The Story of
Teddy Teddy came to live with us a little over two years ago, the victim of an owner who died without designating someone to care for him. He was a gray smoke Persian and he was 17-1/2 years old with a wonderful grumpy old man face. I bought Teddy a lovely padded bed, and for the longest time he would sleep in it most of the day and night with brief excursions for food, water, and other necessities. If you wanted Ted, check his bed in the cat room. Then suddenly he deserted his bed and never went back. We will never know what happened... it's as though he had an argument with it and it was over between them. After he parted ways with his bed, he started getting around the house more. He really got around for an old guy, spending a great deal of his time downstairs just cruising around. Routine senior bloodwork showed that he was in the middle stages of renal failure, so I started giving him subcutaneous fluids to make him more comfortable. He let me get away with that for a while, but then decided he'd had enough. Very much his own cat, he let you know what he wanted... or didn't want. He wanted to handle the disease on his own terms so I respected his wishes and let him, keeping a close eye to make sure he didn't deteriorate. His way of handling it consisted of drinking enough water to keep from being dehydrated and begging for chicken, shrimp, or bacon whenever the opportunity presented itself. For a little guy, he could really pack away the food. And although high protein food isn't the prescribed diet for renal cats, I figured he couldn't have long, he may as well enjoy it. Grooming was an issue for Teddy. He didn't bother to bathe himself any more and his fur matted badly. I took him to be groomed and he was given a lion's cut, which made life a lot easier. Then his grumpy old man persona came out at the groomer's and I was invited to not bring him back. Didn't matter to Teddy... he acted like he'd been kicked out of better places than that. I kept him as combed as I could and as shaved as I had to. But old skin is tender and combing sessions were hard on him... and on me as he didn't hesitate to bite when he felt he was being abused. Thankfully he couldn't bite very hard. It was just his was of saying, Okay we're done now. Teddy lived his life on his terms. But in the last few days there were signs that his spirit was much stronger than his body and that body was starting to shut down. One of the most important things to know as a pet owner is when it's too soon... and when letting it go another day would be too late. Tomorrow would have been too late. So I helped Teddy make his journey to the Bridge this afternoon. As his spirit left his body, he stuck his tongue out and I would swear I heard a raspberry. A final farewell in typical Teddy style. How rich we are to have shared the last years of this tough old guy who seemed so much like a bulldog in a cat's body. |