(Pardon any broken sentances and such... I'm writing this with a Nintendo Wiimote, and can only see about the last 10 words I typed. Convoluted way to access the internet, but it's better than nothing.)
The roommate finished moving his stuff out of the appartment tonight. I'm here through the end of the month, after which point it looks like I'll be moving in with my Dad and a friend of his, while I look for a new place. It's too empty, and too quiet... doesn't really feel like home anymore.
Just got done saying goodbye to the cat I've lived with for as long as I've been here. I brought her in almost 2 years ago, when fall frost was starting to set in... a cold, half-dead runt of a kitten when I first saw her. She'd been the byproduct of a barn-cat situation, abandoned to the elements for a day or more. Though she was old enough to open her eyes, she was very weak, and could barely walk... partially from starvation, and partially because she'd been discovered when my former roommate's mother stepped on and broke through a wood pallette into which the abandoned kitten had crawled, crushing one of her toes.
When I heard about her, I was between jobs, and my depression had been hitting me really hard; I really needed something constructive to focus my energy on. I made up my mind to make sure the little cat would pull through, and decided to take her in. I didn't have the money for a vet visit, so I did some research and got her hydrated first, to compensate for the diarrhea she'd had... I think she'd been fed a tiny bit of wet food, and was neither old enough or had the energy to digest anything. The first days were the worst... I sat with her most of the night, making sure she got water, and kept her warm. Once she looked a bit better, we transitioned to formula from a bottle, which I could only get her to eat when she was on her back... though she was weak, she attacked the bottle in a frenzy, raking it and my hand with her back claws like she was trying to kill... it was painful, but pretty hillarious. Over the next few weeks, she started to get her strength back, and explored my Spartanly furnished apartment. She still hobbled a bit with her squashed toe, the claw clicking against the tile floor since it couldn't retract anymore, but she was nimble and completely fearless. I named her Freyja, for the norse goddess of valor and love.
I went on to show her the ropes with the litter box, and transitioned her to thickened formula in a shallow bowl, which she learned to scoop up with a paw and eat. She went on to do the same thing with solid kibble. I had a second scare with her, when my roommate left out some oil pastel crayons, which she ate one night; I literally caught her red-handed, since she'd stained her paws red when scooping them up to eat. Her digestion ground to a halt, and she couldn't eat, drink, or go to the litterbox for almost a week, and grew weak and listless again. I used part of my student loan living-expense money to cover a proper vet visit, and got her an X-Ray, a liquid food supplement that was calorie-heavy, and some other stuff to treat her. She eventually pulled through, and the litter box was very colorful for the next few days.
It's been almost 2 years since I brought her in. She's still not grown much... maybe a foot long from nose to rump, with another foot or more of poofy tail... literally a dwarf of a cat. I'd share some pictures, but I don't think I can do that from here, and can't find the URLs of the old ones I uploaded. Tonight, she went back with my roommate to the farm I rescued her from, since I can't take her with me when I move in with my Dad. It's so quiet here now... I'm used to her ripping her way at high-speed up and down the hallway, bounding sideways around shoes or chairlegs, chasing an ant or glint of light. She was never really a lap cat, but would always sit maybe a meter away from my feet, making little chirping sounds until I paid attention to her.
TL;DR. Cat's gone, roommate's gone, internet's gone (I'm typing this using a Nintendo Wii that's somehow getting wireless from somewhere). It's getting pretty lonely here.
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Topic: Things that made you sad today thread. (Read 9433076 times)