Goodbye Niña

It is with a heavy heart that we share the news of Niña's passing. After a long life of nearly 16 years, of which she spent the last 8 with us, we had to put her down on Thursday morning. She had been in decline for nearly a year, when she first developed some GI problems. About a month ago, she mostly stopped eating, but did not appear to be in pain and continued to interact with us normally. My hope was that nature would take its course, and we could avoid having to make a difficult decision. However, on Wednesday night, she woke us up in the middle of the night howling. She could no longer walk on her hind legs and was clearly not comfortable. We were able to comfort her a little bit and make it through the night, but by the morning it was clear that she was not doing well.

Katie called the vet and made an appointment for that morning. We decided to take Penelope to daycare first so that we could both be with Niña on her final day. After two years of playing second to Penelope, it seemed only right that Niña should get our full focus for the end of her life. Before Penelope left for daycare, we told her that the cat was going "bye bye" and that she wouldn't see her again. She said that Niña was going to her "own home," which seemed like a suitable answer for us. We asked Penelope to pet her and give her a kiss, which she did. Obviously, all of this had a lot more meaning for us than it did for Penelope. As far as we can tell, Penelope has treated this much the same as when her grandparents leave to return home after visiting with us. She has asked about the cat a few times, and looked under the bed to see if she is there, but has mostly accepted that Niña went "bye bye." Luckily for us, she is at an age that has made dealing with it particularly easy for us.

After dropping off Penelope at daycare, we came back home and picked up Niña. She put up one last valiant fight against going in the cat carrier. The vet examined her and said that she likely had a stroke the night before. It was clearly her time. I asked how long the process would take, and the vet said possibly 20 minutes. However, about 2 minutes after the lethal injection (an overdose of barbiturates), Niña was gone. She was so close already that she just needed one small push to the other side. Niña will be cremated and her ashes sprinkled in eastern Washington.

The entire event was very emotional. Katie handled it all much better than I did, although many tears were shed by both of us when it was all over. I was so glad that we could both be there, with Penelope at daycare, to see Niña through. It was really hard to let her go, and even harder to walk away. I was really hoping that she would have died naturally at home. In my mind, that would have been easier for me to deal with, although I'm not sure it would have been in reality. At least we were able to be there when she took her last breaths. In the end, it was clearly her time to go, and we didn't want her to suffer. But it sure was painful.

After we left the vet, with our empty cat carrier, we walked around the block, thinking of all the good times we had with Niña. She was a crazy cat, with a ton of personalty. I was not exactly a fan of having a cat when she first arrived on the scene, but we became quite close over the years, especially as Niña mellowed in her older age. She was really our first child, and a constant companion for eight years. Frequently annoying, but always loving (towards us, not necessarily anyone else). And she managed to burrow deep into our hearts.

We have decided to go pet-free for awhile. One small dependent mammal is more than enough to keep our hands full these days. Penelope has already put in a request for a new cat, or, as she put it, "my own cat," but that will just have to wait for now.

So, Goodbye Niña. You were a great crazy cat, and you will be dearly missed.