We lost Pastel yesterday morning, after waking up to find her paralyzed half way in out of the cat door to the catzone outside. Stroke, or some toxic bug bite, we’ll never know. The Vet couldn’t find any signs of swelling or injury to account for her sudden paralysis. It didn’t have the characteristics of any of the feline viruses, and she had all her shots.
Sudden, devastating to us, she was beautiful tall calico kitty, and even though semi-feral she loved getting attention, especially at bedtime when she would push her way in front of the other cats getting petted.
Cynthia stayed with her all Thursday and into the night as we gave her fluids, and kept her comfortable, and made sure she knew she wasn’t alone.
Friday morning, we knew she was worsening, so we took her in to the vet and it was over, so quickly, the beautiful wonderful rescue who was too skittish with everyone but us was gone from our lives.
Was it worth it? We got her as a tiny fierce kitten, dirty, starving and flea ridden with her litter mates and her abandoned house cat momma, and she was with us for 2+ years, through our move to Acton, she loved all the other cats, being outside in the sun, chasing bugs, and generally enjoying her life.
If we hadn’t rescued her, she most likely would not have made it out of kittenhood, she was in the backalleys of Van Nuys, which was about to go through extreme heat and then torrential rains, the momma trying to keep them alive while starving herself and fighting off feral cats and keeping them all away from unleashed unfriendly dogs.
We loved her and miss her, it has been a hard week, but today as I feed, talk to, pet, tussle and cuddle the recent set of kitties we’re taking care of that are safe and happy, I wouldn’t change anything about having Pastel in our lives, even though brief, Pastel had a happy life, and we had the chance too know and love her, that she wouldn’t have had otherwise.
We miss you kitty. Thank you for being such a wonderful beautiful part of our lives.
