It was almost a year ago that my blog had the same headline, except that our cat's name was
Pebbles. It's hard to do what we did today, but Minnie had somehow formed a hairball the size of a cigar, and when finally giving it up, severely damaged her esophagus, to the extent surgical repair wasn't even possible. She passed over the Rainbow Bridge around 4PM today and joined Pebbles, Jazzy, Apollo and all our kitties before her. She was only seven but also had Valley Fever, which could have been another complication down the road.
What made it even harder, Minnie was vital up to the last, showing no signs of her problem except that she could not eat or drink water. The enormous hairball had damaged the tissue in her esophagus so bad that there was a build-up in the passageway leaving an opening the size of a pin head. When the vet tried to scope, a rupture presented an impossible situation. I want to tell you that Minnie was receiving one of the best hairball remedies available, so it would appear that this was a fluke of nature.
We know Minnie wanted to live and of course my wife Barbara and I wanted her to stay with us as a
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| The Rainbow Bridge |
part of our family of two other cats. There's Teddy and Mickey, Minnie's son; they were named Mickey and Minnie by the shelter where we got them. And it's almost as if at least Teddy, Minnie's boyfriend, knew what was going on, hanging close to her in the last couple days. Of course Mickey cares but isn't the sensitive guy Teddy is. It's hard to say what they are thinking but there are those special looks and actions that Barb can interpret.
Like this morning when I was washing my teeth and when finished I turned around and looked at Minnie and said, "Don't worry, we're going to get you all fixed up." Well, it didn't happen and as I remember the look on her face, I think she just might have known that.
The moral of this story is always be aware and love your pets and love all animals.
