Goodbye old friend...

13 years ago in August I brought home a litter of kittens to foster and fell in love. They never went back to be adopted, they'd already found their home. Frosting, Growler, Holly and Puddin were all spirited and very different kitties. Growler was a very young cat when he developed a mega colon and had to be put to sleep. When they were very young, Frosting used to be the first to come to sit on my knee at feeding time but, as they grew, she became more and more aloof. These last 8 or so years she spent most of her time avoiding me and when she couldn't hissing at me. She's not been a very healthy kitty, too fat for her own good and unable to groom herself well. About once every 2 or 3 years I'd have to catch her and clip away the mats in her fur. Two weeks ago I noticed that she was declining rather badly. She began to sit by the water dish and when she did get up she was so wobbly in the back end that she could barely stay upright. But she still hissed at me when I tried to come near so I tried to give her some peace. This last week she has become essentially immoble. She'd move about 2 feet a day and she seemed to welcome my caresses for the first time since she was a baby. I picked her up every day and moved her back near the food and water. She ceased hissing and curled loosely in my arms, poor old thing. I knew the end was near but I tried to keep her comfortable. I used a needle-less syringe to give her water and she lapped a little bit of baby food off a spoon last night. I got up this morning at about 7 and checked on her. She'd moved a bit but was still on the linoleum so I stroked her for a bit and went back to be lazy in bed. About 15 minutes later she started to cry, which hasn't been unusually these last couple days, and when I went out to check on her, she was gone.

I petted her more this week than most of the rest of her life and although she really wanted nothing to do with me, she was a fixture around my house and will be sadly missed.

Rest in peace baby girl! I'm glad your suffering is over.