Another Loss

 

It seems like with every year, we lose another of our pets.  This year it was Barbara's cat Mickey.  He passed away yesterday at around 6:10 PM after a lingering decline in his health, and his loss is a sad one for us.  Mickey was a very sweet and affectionate cat, and his story deserves to be told.

Originally, Mickey belonged to my late sister-in-law Susan, but when she passed away in 2020 Barbara inherited him.  Mickey also had a sister, Mallory, who passed away in 2023.  Both of these cats created a lot of fond memories for me, as I remember when Sue got them - it was in 2008, and although I don't know the full story as to how she found them, I do know they were Maine Coon mixed, and they were actually large cats.  The first time I encountered them was in December 2008, after she first got them - they were still small kittens then, a few months old, and they were both very adorable little ones.  That means essentially that Mickey lived to be 18 years old, almost 19.  That longevity alone was impressive, as for most cats reaching 15 is a big step.  However, Mickey and his sister Mallory were both quite hardy cats, probably due to their Maine Coon heritage, and both of them lived long lives.   Mallory lived to be 16, and Mickey 18.  

When Barbara initially adopted these two cats after her sister's passing in December 2020, we were separated at the time but she still lived with Mom and I at our place in Hagerstown.  It was a big responsibility to take on then, as we had just lost one of our other older cats, KitKat, on New Year's Day 2021, and I still had Lily and Tippy then, so these two made 4 cats in the house.  Mickey, who was a more laid-back boy, immediately latched onto me, and for some reason he was practically adopted by me unofficially as well.  In time, I began to actually call him "Piggy," based on a cute rework of his name (also from that Ramona and Beezus movie, where Ramona called her cat Icky-Sticky or something like that).  He actually began to answer to that, and from that point he was "Piggy."  As far as personality goes, Mickey was a sweet, docile, and laid-back cat for a male, and he preferred being on your lap or doing a silly little dance on a pillow he claimed from Barbara that was funny to watch.  His sister, Mallory, was a little more attitude.  Mickey became part of the family, and for all intents and purposes he sort of became unofficially my cat too.  That would be even more evident when last year due to the haste of our move from Hagerstown, I had to keep him with me because the place Barbara got at the time did not take cats, but my house did.  So, for about 4 months, I cared for Mickey along with my own two cats, Lily (who I lost in December of last year) and Tippy.  He was rather easy to care for, as he used the litter box and never made messes and he also tended to have a robust appetite.  However, there were issues early on when Mickey began having issues with chewing food - he acted like it hurt to eat, and he would have issues chewing.  This would intensify over the coming years we had him until eventually it seemed like he was unable to eat normally at all.  Beginning in September of this year, he began to eat less and less - some days, he would go for several days at a time without eating a bite, save some milk or some raw chicken or hamburger, and as that progressed, he began to lose a lot of weight.  We tried our best to accommodate him, but over the past couple of weeks his health really deteriorated.  While we had a hope that he might just pull through it, his age and the intensity of his condition said otherwise.  It climaxed last night, when after Barbara got home from work, she found him just laying under her desk on the floor - he was unable to move, and although Barbara coaxed him to drink water, he had no desire.  Also, there was the smell, that smell of death.  Eventually, Barbara just picked him up and held him a while, and he eventually breathed his last in her arms at approximately 6:10 PM.  His mouth was very bloody, he was missing several teeth, and at this point he was also so malnourished that it would have taken a miracle to help him recover.  So, once again, the responsibility has come to lay him to rest - where we live at in downtown Baltimore is a bit challenging, as we have no place to inter a deceased pet, so I will need Barbara to really help me out with that so we can do that together, given we also have nosy neighbors who like to run their big mouths too.  As is the procedure, I wrapped him in an old blanket, and then sealed him in a plastic trash bag that would prevent scavengers from digging up the body (the trash bag was also scented, which helps to deter as well).  So, tonight comes the challenge of locating a suitable spot to put him to rest - had this been in Hagerstown, it would not have been an issue as I had plenty of backyard space there.  But in a city like this, it is a challenge.  However, the alternative is to toss him in a trash bin, and I cannot bring myself to do that.  So, a suitable spot to place him is integral.

Losing a pet can be about as tragic as losing a person, as they tend to become a vital part of our lives.  Pets are wonderful companions to have, and they impart an unconditional love to their owners that sometimes humanity is incapable of.  Over the years, I have had many pets I have really loved like my own children - dogs, cats, rabbits, guinea pigs, birds - and the memories they leave are cherished for years to come.  Also, I make sure to have plenty of pictures of them too, as it is a good way to immortalize their memories.  I know there has been a big debate over whether our pets will be in heaven or not, and some say yes, while others say no.  I tend to think they will for some reason - while an animal doesn't have a soul in the sense of a human being, there is something there, and God created them too and we should always appreciate God's creation.  When God created the heavens and earth, as it records in Genesis, after each creative phase God always declared it was good - that includes animals.  Animals are good in a lot of capacities - the can be loyal pets, but they also provide nourishment and other services to us as well.  We often fail to understand that as Christians, as we have this quasi-gnostic view of things that all created matter is corrupt and only the spiritual is good - that is nonsense you hear on a lot of popular televangelist programs.  A good God can only create good things, and to call something evil that God created is an insult to him - that was layer of the lesson Christ gave to Peter in Acts 10 as well with the descending sheet.  So, instead of picking a theological fight with a person who is distraught over losing a beloved pet, just leave them alone and allow them to grieve, cherish the memories, and have hope.  It is the right thing to do. 

I apologize for a lot of things to say this week, but so much is going on.  Thank you though for listening, and will see you next time.