Monday, May 31, 2021

Each body a lion of courage and something precious to the earth


Cat of my heart


Theo died on Saturday, and it drizzled cold, cold rain all weekend.

The whole world feels, in fact, a little bit colder and flatter without this cat in it. I'm a dog person, but this guy was special. He was fine one minute and dragging his back end the next, and while Mark was on the phone to the emergency vet, I was holding and petting Theo, keeping him from attempting, alarmed, to drag himself up the stairs on his two functioning legs. I was also googling his symptoms and finding articles headlined Every Cat Owner's Worst Nightmare.

So, from fine to gone was...maybe an hour and a half? Just to explain why I can still see him slinking around the corner two days later, expect to find him beneath my downward dog or to hear him thumping down the stairs in his furry boots. He was so soft, such a kind cat who barely realized there were sharp claws inside his paws. For such a small animal, he's left a strangely large void.

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