Another Goodbye

I wasn't sure I even wanted to mention this, but I know someone will notice and wonder so.....Moss is gone now too.  About 6 weeks ago she got very sick with bloody vomit and diarrhea.  Before I could do anything for her she disappeared.  She was gone for four days and I figured she was gone for good.  I was pleasantly surprised when she showed up on the fifth day looking very thin, but otherwise totally healthy.  She seemed like she was making a full recovery.  I got her special food and she was eating more than she ever has, it seemed like a good thing at first.  Then she started drinking far more water than normal, eating more than normal and yet still losing weight.  She has steadily declined since then despite all efforts.

In the past few days, she became unsteady on her feet, unable to jump onto a hay bale and somewhat disoriented.  This morning, I could see the end in her face. This afternoon, I once again gave the final gift.  She went to sleep purring softly in my lap as we sat in the hay barn one last time.

The first half of Moss' life was very rough.  She was a feral, half starved, abused, neglected creature who came to me with an abundance of scars, few teeth and neurological damage.  She learned to enjoy life here and wanted for nothing.  It is a bit ironic that it is only recently that she has begun to enjoy human touch.  Her best friend the past two years has been Ramsey.  Like so many of us, she took to him right from the start.  I figure that Moss was approximately 12-15 years old.  Not terribly old for a cat, but ancient given how hard the first half of her life was.

Goodbye Moss, I am sure there is another warm hay barn with lots of good donkeys to play with.  Say hello to Tanner for me.