Saturday, May 26, 2007

Excuse Me!

Excuse me if I smell like cat urine. I know it's not the stuff of posts, but you see, our cat is dying, and I was cleaning out his litter box today. Our Master Bath reeks, as Colonel has had a few misses lately. I used Resolve to kill the odor, but some of it must have oozed into the grout around the shower stall.

I am divided. Last week, I was determined to take him for tests and pills and to keep him as healthy as possible. . .but when they said daily injections - I faltered. My youngest daughter, S, said, "He won't let you do that!" (But she remembers Colonel the fighter, Colonel the attacker, not Colonel the dying elder.) Colonel has become the "puddy tat" who no longer fights the Vet if I am there to comfort him. The cat who trusts me implicitly, yet knows not that I hold the keys to his future. I don't want to make that decision - the one I know is coming, if he doesn't die on his own.

We all love Colonel. He has been a great cat for nearly 14 years. He was the great grey hunter that kept our house free of mice when the back yard was just a field near the airport. He has killed voles, and chased off cats and birds and probably squirrels. He'd even go after a dog if it came in the yard - but those days are past. He stopped fighting other cats a few months ago. He rarely goes outside except to stand on the back porch and survey his domain. He has stopped attacking Ozzy, our chocolate lab. He sleeps most of the time now, is losing weight, drinks a ton, and wets a ton.

Which leads me back to the beginning. He goes through a tub of litter every week or two now. . .and I am tired of the smell. Injections every day - or the smell of urine - or one fatal injection. . .but I can't go there. He must know. . .he just came in beside me to be petted.

So excuse me if I reek. I can't kill my cat.

7 comments:

myrtle beached whale said...

at least you have a reason for smelling like cat urine. I know a woman who smells like that and doesn't even own a cat. I am hoping that if my life comes to drinking and wetting myself and I can no longer chase around, that someone will pull my plug. Fourteen years is a good run for a cat. Let him go with dignity.

Pinehurst in my Dreams said...

Thanks. I don't really smell like that now, but I did when I was picking up the garbage bag under the litter in his box.

Sorry, I laughed. But I feel sorry for that lady. I think as people age, they don't clean themselves up as well, as they used to. And if they are large - I mean L-A-R-G-E, there may be folds of skin that never see a washcloth, etc. Yea, TMI - too much information.

myrtle beached whale said...

Thanks for that visual image that I am sure will haunt my dreams. Let me add to my previous statement. If I ever have "folds of skin that never see a washcloth" I hope someone pulls the plug.

Pinehurst in my Dreams said...

LSHISTA - LAUGHING SO HARD I'M SCARING THE ANIMALS!

Can't catch my breath long enough to post. . .

Be sure to put that in your living will. . .LSHISTA

Pinehurst in my Dreams said...

Don't put LSHISTA in the living will, just your request that if you lose your bodily functions - or have places so deep they can't be hosed out. . .pull the plug.

But what if you aren't hooked up to a plug? (Bring out the fire hose!) LSHISTA!

myrtle beached whale said...

So here I am sitting in a pool of bodily fluids and I am not on life support. That pretty much would put me in the same situation as Colonel.

Pinehurst in my Dreams said...

I am trying to determine if you are talking future scenerio, or present tense situation. Didn't think it was that funny, but yes, pretty much like the cat, except he's not sitting in anything wet, and he doesn't have places he cannot clean himself. . .so there ya go. . .
Well, if the fire hose is powerful enough, the bodily fluids would be dispersed along with any chunks left in skin folds. But drying off - now that may be another problem - unless someone has an industrial fan and wooden blinds. (The wooden blinds could be used to separate the folds so the air can get to those hidden places.) And that's about as much imagination I can stand. I refuse to "get a visual" on it - closed my mind off to the possiblities, and apologize to any visual people who happened to stumble on this post.