It started with three....two little girls and a boy. A friend found them in a field without their mom. They were about two weeks old we guessed and still needed to be bottle fed. Which I did happily. The kitten on the top, with the marking on her head that looks almost like a sling shot was Mickie. My sister ended up taking her and renamed her Sophie. She lived a good life but disappeared one day. The kitten on the bottom was Beau. He had no marking on his head and lived to be about 7 or 8. Fiona is to the left. She was such a special girl. Always a good cat. Rarely caused any problem. Only her shedding. Boy could she shed. She left parts of herself all over the place.
Fiona laying on top of Sheena. Also pictured are Cameo and Beau. Fall of 1998.
Beau and Fiona in 1999.
Taken in 1999. Notice her black spot is fading. She was peeking in the kitchen window at me.
With Andre and Amanda. This was probably around 2002.
Her favorite position. Taken about 2001.
Here I caught her in the middle of a bath. She took so many a day...within minutes of being pet she would start cleaning all areas near the offended area. That is one thing that changed in the last couple weeks. She quit grooming herself.
In 1999 Thaddeaus disappeared. He had been given to me as a day old kitten. Losing him was so hard and made me realize I could no longer deal with losing my fur babies. So I made all the cats indoor. At each place we lived after that we put in a cat door and gave them a small outside yard. But they were not allowed to wonder any longer. Two years ago I realized that Fiona needed more than that. She was now the only animal and Liam was getting a lot of my attention. I decided it was time to let her outside. I only let her in back and she was such a good girl that she only stayed in the back yard. But she enjoyed it so much! Lounging in the sun on warm summer days and in the shade on hot summer days. She also loved the wind. Here she is last summer in the middle of the bush beans. She was so content.
Here she is today.
She was so restless and didn't want to be in the house but wasn't sure she wanted outside either. The rain wasn't bothering her like it would have in years past. What was so hard about this is it seemed to happen so fast...up until late September she was perfectly healthy, or so I thought. And up until December she was eating her new diet and acting normal. And though she all but quit eating and began pacing and acting unlike herself in so many ways, she never looked sick. She still wanted attention. Looking back, even more than normal. She never lost energy though her weight dropped from not eating. And she still looked so good, not like a sick cat.
It is a relief that she is not pacing and yowling throughout the house any longer. But you are always left wondering if maybe you had done one more thing it might have made the difference. If maybe you had spent a few more dollars the vet might have found the one thing that was wrong that was simple to fix. If maybe you had searched just a little more you could have found the food that she would not have turned her nose up at. If maybe you would have given the pain killers a few more days....if, if, if. But in the end you have to realize that you gave it your best shot and you said goodbye before the real suffering had started. I was blessed to have her in my life. She was a special cat.
Goodbye sweet Fiona.
It is a relief that she is not pacing and yowling throughout the house any longer. But you are always left wondering if maybe you had done one more thing it might have made the difference. If maybe you had spent a few more dollars the vet might have found the one thing that was wrong that was simple to fix. If maybe you had searched just a little more you could have found the food that she would not have turned her nose up at. If maybe you would have given the pain killers a few more days....if, if, if. But in the end you have to realize that you gave it your best shot and you said goodbye before the real suffering had started. I was blessed to have her in my life. She was a special cat.
Goodbye sweet Fiona.