Our Sweet Mo Of 18 Years Left Us

A few months after one of our other kitties passed away many years ago, we decided to adopt another cat. None of our local pet supply stores was holding pet adoptions that day, so we ended up driving a few miles to the nearest place that had some kitties available. My husband instantly fell in love with a huge orange tabby named Mo that was in a cage tucked away in the corner. It seemed as if the adoption organizers were trying to keep him somewhat hidden, so we asked why since it was obvious Mo was such a lovable cat. It turned out Mo was a package deal, meaning that if we wanted Mo we had to also adopt his best friend Teddy, a special needs cat. My husband was completely smitten with Mo, so one of the adoption people drove us to out to meet Teddy. They never brought Teddy to the adoptions since he had chronic diarrhea, trouble with his balance, and he had licked off quite a bit of his fur due to stress. Teddy and Mo had been adopted a couple of times before, but Teddy's condition was more than most families could handle so they had been returned each time. After we met Teddy and saw how miserable he was, we decided to give the boys a forever home. That was 18 years ago. (Over time, Teddy recovered from most of his symptoms, such as his fur growing back and much better balance, and although he still has chronic diarrhea, it's not nearly as bad as it used to be.) As I mentioned before, Mo was a pretty big cat. He weighed nearly 20 pounds his entire life, that is until now. A couple of months ago, he rapidly began losing weight, and since he's fairly old for a cat, we knew time was short for Mo. At the moment, he's still with us, but it's likely he won't last another day. Mo's favorite place in the house is the bathtub. He loved drinking water directly from the faucet and would often demand it with loud meows. I layered some soft sheets in the tub and placed him in there to await the inevitable. My husband had a special connection with Mo from the first time they met, so he's quite devastated. We have dealt with the loss of many of our animal babies over the years (one of the worst for me personally was the passing of my beloved parrot Boogie after 27 years), so I felt like I was prepared for this, but now I'm in tears. It always hurts when they leave us.

A Little Stray Who Stole My Heart...

First, thank you for being here for us, Lightning-Strike. I found this forum a few years ago when the love of my life of 27 years suddenly passed away, Boogie the Blue-Fronted Amazon. It took me quite a long time to accept that he was gone, and although I'll never "get over" his passing (even after all this time, I still hear his phantom squawks and catch an imaginary glimpse of him out of the corner of my eye now and then), Lightning-Strike helped me through the worst of it.

And now I'm back. This is kind of a long story, so I hope you can all bear with me. When my husband and I first moved to our neighborhood 8 years ago, we discovered a few stray and feral cats in the area. Of course, I immediately began feeding them and our back yard became sort of a feral cat sanctuary. Unfortunately, there were a couple of females that kept having kittens, and within 4 months we had at least 2 dozen cats and kittens in our yard. We knew things were only going to get worse, so I asked for advice at our local Petco, and they mentioned T-N-R (Trap-Neuter-Return). I wasn't familiar with the process, so they put me in touch with a T-N-R expert. It took a few more weeks of patient baiting and trapping, but I managed to get the entire colony fixed (luckily, here in California there are some organizations and vets who provide the neutering of ferals at no charge). So we still had a cat population in the back yard, but there were no new kittens being added to the bunch...or so we thought. There was actually just one male who was responsible for the kitten explosion, but we could never trap him, so sure enough, a new pregnant female arrived in our yard. She gave birth to a couple of litters before we could trap her, but we did eventually get her fixed as well. She was particularly sweet and smart and friendly, so we assumed she probably had a home at some point in the past. We named her Mommy Cat, and although we already had 3 cats when we moved to that neighborhood, we ended up taking in 3 more kittens from the colony (2 of which were Mommy's). Eventually, most of the ferals wandered away to live their lives, but a handful stayed. After 3 years, we moved to a larger house down the street. I tried to trap the remaining cats and bring them all to the new place, but only 3 of them stayed (Mommy Cat, Smoky and Calicoco). Mommy was still the friendliest out of the trio, while Smoky and Calicoco remained on the feral side. Everything was fine for the next couple of years until the homeowner announced that his daughter wanted the house. Once again, we were able to find another place on the same street. This time I built a 6 ft. enclosure on the patio in the back yard for the 3 outdoor cats. We had become really attached to them and we didn't want them to wander away or get lost or run over by a car or get into fights with other animals or whatever. Our plan was to either bring them indoors eventually (we were kind of at cat-capacity with our five) or keep them in the enclosure until we moved again (we had grown tired of living in that neighborhood and wanted to leave as soon as possible). Well, time passed pretty quickly and 3 years later we're still in the same house. In the meantime, the 2 feral cats in the kennel were becoming more and more friendly, and all 3 of them were now inseparable. We still wanted to move to a better area, but unfortunately my husband suddenly became paralyzed due to an extremely rare condition known as a cavernous malformation of the spinal cord. That happened in February of 2016. He had surgery on his spine and was on his way to recovery, hopefully walking again, but the hospital released him far too early (and with severe pressure sores on his lower back and ankles). He contracted a "super bug" blood infection and nearly died. It took another 8 months in the hospital, but he finally came home again in October 2016. He was never able to get physical therapy due to all the complications and setbacks he suffered, so he's still bedridden and I'm now his 24/7 caregiver until he's able to get into a wheelchair or back onto his feet. Since it appears we won't be moving to a new home anytime soon, it was time to bring the last of the kitty colony indoors and join the family. We had no idea how old Mommy Cat was or how many litters she had given birth to before she found us years ago, but she was beginning to show her age. She had become pretty thin, but otherwise in good health. We brought the cats inside about 3 weeks ago, and of course our other cats were not thrilled, but we knew it would take some time for them all to get used to each other. I really wanted Mommy Cat to get to know her 2 grown kittens again. Things were settling down and we were looking forward to happy times with a house packed full with 8 cats, but then something went wrong with Mommy. Three days ago she was eating her food as usual, but as she walked away from the dish, she suddenly fell over into a strange spasm that lasted a couple of seconds. When she got up, it was clear she was having trouble with her legs. It looked like she was also paralyzed! That lasted only a few moments, and she was able to walk a bit better except her right front paw was limp. She hid under a book shelf and I thought "This is it. Poor Mommy Cat is on her way out." I kept checking on her and it didn't appear she would last the day, but she moved around quite a bit and eventually came out from her hiding place. She began drinking water and eating a little, so that seemed like a good sign. Her paw was still slightly limp, but she was doing so much better. It didn't occur to me until the next day that she probably had some sort of stroke. She stayed in the living room with us, and she did seem to be improving, so we decided to let her rest before taking her to the vet. But I guess as we all know, when animals are nearing the end, they go pretty quickly. By yesterday, Mommy Cat had gone into hiding, refused water and food, and had rapidly weakened. This morning she passed away as I held her in my arms. The death of my parrot Boogie was the most difficult loss I had ever experienced, so I thought I would be better able to handle the passing of Mommy Cat. I loved her very much, and even though I had been feeding her and looking out for her welfare for the past several years, it didn't feel as though she was really a part of our family since she didn't live in our home. I think I was wrong about that. I've been crying all day. I miss her, and I only wish I would have brought her into our house sooner.

One Of My Adopted Feral Kitties Passed This Evening...

What a terrible day. This particular feral, Weasel, was already quite old when he showed up at my door a few years ago. There used to be a real stray cat problem in my neighborhood, so I became involved with the Trap-Neuter-Return program in my area and got all the cats and kittens fixed...that was over 30 kitties...and they were all living in my backyard for quite awhile. Most of them eventually moved to different territories, but a few decided to stay. I took in the youngest kittens since they would acclimate to indoor living easier and get along with my other adopted cats. I would have taken in all the adult strays as well, but ferals are complicated creatures. When feral kittens reach about 3 months, they will likely always have that skittish, wary-of-humans mentality. I did take in one feral that was 4 months old and after being an indoor house cat for the past four years she's still frightened of everything and everyone...but she's getting better. Since I couldn't adopt all the adult ferals, and to keep the neighbors from complaining about the few strays still living in my backyard, I decided to house them in a large kennel. That way they would be safe and when I moved I wouldn't have to worry about trapping them. I ended up with 4 ferals in the enclosure: Weasel, Mommy Cat, Calico and Smokey. I found out when I took Weasel to the vet to be fixed 5 years ago that he was already pretty old at that point, and he was one of those typical crusty, mean looking orange tabby cats that would prefer to stay away from people. He was not friendly at all when he first showed up in my yard searching for food, but Weasel turned out to be one of the sweetest cats ever. Not all ferals start out as strays. My guess is that he probably lived with a family at some point in his life and he was either lost or abandoned. My intention has always been to move to bigger house with an enclosed patio so the 4 ferals wouldn't have to live in the kennel for so long. It's been 2 years, and they seem to have gotten used to it (but I'm still planning on moving). Sadly, Weasel's age finally caught up with him. I noticed he was having some issues lately, and I was trying to prepare myself for his passing, but it's never easy when an animal friend dies. It was obvious that today was going to be his last, so I did what I could to make him comfortable. He could no longer walk without assistance, so I sat with him in the sun for a few hours, then as the day turned to evening and the temperature began to drop, I brought him inside the house and made a soft bed for him. I stayed with Weasel until the end. I really miss him. I didn't think I would cry this much, but he was such a sweetheart of a cat. He was always the first one at the kennel gate at mealtime, and the most vocal. He was part of my life every day for the past 5 years and now he's gone.

10/18...the Worst Day Of My Life

Just feeling down today. This is the 2nd anniversary of my parrot's passing. Boogie died in my arms exactly 2 years ago on 10/18. Time has not healed my grief yet, and I don't think it ever will. Boogie was in my life for 27 years and I still miss him every single minute of every single day.

Miss My Parrot Still...after A Year And A Half

Been having a difficult time lately...really just missing my bird so much. He was in my life for nearly 30 years, so I guess a year and half is short in comparison. I think it's going to take a very, very long time for me to accept that he's gone...if ever.

I actually had a dream about Boogie a few weeks ago. He came back to me, and I was so happy in my dream...but there was something odd about my bird. He looked a bit ragged and tired, which I found to be really sad and shocking. When I woke up, I could only think that it was my brain telling me that even if the impossible happened and Boogie could come back, he would still eventually pass away.