the Gift

back in august, Kira was asleep on the couch, and woke up shaking his front paw, similar to the way Cats will shake a paw after it gets wet, this disturbed him enough to jump off the couch, and when he landed, he went over on that paw.

he didnt appear to be in pain, but as he walked around, he wasnt steping on his foot, but on his elbow, at first though, I worried that he had broken his foot, but in examining him, poking and prodding, he did not complain, so it didnt seem that he was in pain.

I suspected a possible stroke, he was an eleven year old indoor cat, quite large in fact, and never denied what ever I might be eating at the time, be it a small piece of steak, some chicken, a bit of apple, or many of the other foods I would have at the time, if I would eat it, chances are he would as well, so I figured he must be getting old, and that his time was near.

The thought of that was very difficult to think about to the point of causing me extreme sorrow, I was happy to know he wasnt uncomfortable, and over the next few hours, he seemed to be feeling better.although he was not as hungry as he usually was, with the exception of baby food, he really didnt want anything at all

By the next day, he was walking around normally, but still was not his same old lively self, he still turned away most foods, prefering to nibble on the baby food. he was also very tired, and prefered to sleep quite a bit. not having him walk me to the door to see me off for work in the morning was quite upsetting.

over the next few days, I started spoiling him, giving him canned food, little splashes of milk, bits of cheese, and as time passed, he started getting used to it, and enjoying all the extra attention, in fact, he decided he liked the canned food so much that he completely stopped eating his crunchies.

He lost quite a bit of weight that way, and got alot of energy back, when I would come home from work, he would greet me at the door, and when left in the morning, he would see me off, he was looking much better as the weight came off, and managed to find the desire to play from time to time as well.

He always took his water from a dish in the bathroom, and when he was thirsty, he would come to me to fill it, getting my attention, and then leading me down the hall to the bathroom, after so many years, it became easy to tell what he wanted when he came and got my attention, be it food, drink, love or play, he was quite skilled at expressing his desires. It was at this point that he developed a new desire.

Ordinarily, I would go to bed before everyone else in my house as I get up the earliest, so since he was not allowed to sleep in the bedroom when my wife was in there, he would steal an hour or two with me before she came to bed. She would come to bed, and tell him "no cats in the bedroom" and he would meow at her, and grudgingly leave, sometimes with a little added encouragement.

it was towards the end that he startd coming to me about an hour before I usually went to bed, at first I had no idea what he wanted, thinking he wanted water, I would go with him to the bathroom, only to have him lead me through the bathroom, into the bedroom, I finally figured it out, my little buddy was tired and wanted to go to bed early with me before he had to leave for the night.

in looking back, I think to myself how fortunate I was, to have the time I did with my little buddy, that event in august was probably a mild heart attack, and although he managed to make it through that one, I knew his time with me was not long, and I took the opportunity to fully enjoy each day I was given with him.

As the days pass, I remember various times with him, and on the flip side, I forget certain things as well, ultimately, I suppose many of the memories will fade, As it stands, I dont hear his meow or purr anymore in my thoughts, I dont see him out of the corner of my eye as I sit in the sunroom, I dont remember him as a day to day pet as much as I remember bits and pieces of him in passing thoughts.

My Kira was an 11 year novel within the volumes that are my life, and as much as I would prefer not to think about it, that book is now closed, and on a shelf somewhere.

There are new Kitties in my life now, they are very special, all so cute, similar, but also so different than my little buddy, I guess in time, I will come to realize what the current book is about.