With the most heartfelt pain I heard last night that one of my internet friends lost her and her boyfriends cat.RIP Murphy - I am certain you brought a lot of light to your parent's life!
As I looked at Murphy's pictures, the pain of my own losses shot through my heart. Both human and animal. The oh-so-way-to-early death of my dad 7 years ago, the passing of my grandmother 2 years ago and the death of my kitten 3 years ago.
How can you compare a human life to the life of an animal you say? Trust me - they are oh-so-similar!!
Believe it or not - as much as I miss my dad and my grandmother (I think of them every day), I think the death of my cat, Tye, still affects me the most.
{To explain: I left Germany when I was 21. As much as I saw my parents lots (they were/are Canadian and came to visit every 3-4 month) and my family when I visited them - I was still alone here in Canada!)
Tye was with me of 12 years. She was a walk-in to some people whose house my parents bought in the early 1990's and Tye came with it. At first I wasn't sure if could or even wanted to take care of kitten. Especially one that was already about 8 years old at the time.
But she and I sniffed each other a couple of times and decided - YUP, Love at first sight!!!!!
For the next 12 years, Tye was my constant companion. She lived with me through 1 dog (Hershey when he was little), 2 cars, 3 jobs, 4 girlfriends (yes I was a slut! LOL), 5 moves - you get the drift.
No matter how moody I was, how lonely I felt or how sick I had been, I could always count on Tye to rub herself around my legs, purring up a storm.
She LOVED the outdoors and was never happier then when we moved to the Cariboo for 3 years.
anecdote time: My parents have a cabin at a lake near 100 Mile House, B.C. In the summer of 1995 my dad and his best friend spent two weeks out there being little boys. And for two weeks they tried to hunt this little mouse that snuck into the house. Sigi tried everything - from traps to flowery language. Nothing worked.
Tye and I moved into the house 2 days after the two men left. I had found work in nearby Williams Lake. The first morning I woke up when Tye sat at the foot of the bed, purring me awake (she could purr alright!). I got out of bed and in my daze noticed something at my left foot.
There was the mouse - being given as a gift by my cat!!! What a hunter she was!!!!!
Then we moved back to Vancouver. From one day to the next, Tye had to adapt from being a hunting, nature loving outdoor cat to a indoor couch potato. She never had a problem with it!
A few years later, Tye became VERY sick. She had lymphoma. I was told that was not unusual for cats her age (she was 15 then). I was given two options: the obvious one (euthinatia) or a experimental and VERY expensive treatment based on radiation. $1500 later, I was glad to have spent that money.
Tye lived to see me meet M and fall in love with her. And meet a 4-month-old goof named Hershey. In all my life with her I never seen her like a dog - until Hershey came along. She whacked him in the nose once and that was it for "Who's the Boss". After that they actually got along as long as Hershey remembered she ran the roost!
Then I flew to Germany to visit my family. I had had that trip planned for a while and left a (now former) friend in charge of Tye's well-being as I had done numerous times before. When I returned 4 weeks later, Tye greeted me with a lot of affection - more then usual I thought. Usually she would show me nothing but contempt for the first 10 min of my returns just to tell me she was NOT happy being left alone! This time she was all cuddles, purrs and love!
Within days I realized something was wrong. She puked a lot - not furballs but her food. Her pooh was mostly runny, she lost weight and at times seemed apathetic.
So one day M and I dropped her off at the vet. The diagnosis was devastating. Her cancer had returned after 5 years. She was already 20+ years old, so the vet told us that any radiation would only prolong her suffering.
I feel a little ashamed but I couldn't even be with her in her last minutes. Losing Tye hit me harder then I ever thought possible. Afterall, she was only a cat, right?
That cat had changed my life. She had been there as my constant companion through thick and thin, had helped me cope with a lot of stuff in our 12 years together.
So, J and E - I know how you feel. I also know that Murphy will NEVER be out of your hearts or minds. The littlest thing will remind you off him - you will smile, laugh and sometimes cry.
But you will always love him.
Purrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr
