R.I.P. Ty the Kitten

Not-Mom here. It is with more sadness than I know how to express that I report the death tonight of Tyrus, aka Ty the Kitten.

Ty had gotten much sicker since her last post to this blog, having lost between and third and a half of her weight. Tink lost weight, too, and neither was eating even when force-fed and both were vomiting. By yesterday, they were starting to become listless.

This morning Ty was still not eating, and couldn't hold down even water, vomiting it up violently. She was pale and her little paw pads felt cold to me. When she tried to nestle against me (her favorite thing) she couldn't get comfortable, was clearly in pain. I guess I knew then that she wasn't going to make it, but I spent the day hoping and praying otherwise. I am grateful to all the good friends near and far who did the same.

Her vet did what he could for her, giving her fluids, first subcutaneously and then, when it was apparent that was not helping, intravenously. Around 5 p.m., I received a call that she was on oxygen, laboring to breathe, in pain, and failing fast. I rushed to her side. I held her and stroked her; I could tell she knew I was there, even though I could feel her failing under my very hand. We decided to draw blood, not because we thought there was any hope of helping her, but with an eye toward knowing what was wrong so perhaps Tink could benefit. Initially I was asked to wait elsewhere while they drew the blood, but I asked to stay; I knew there was a good chance she wouldn't survive even that--I wasn't even sure she would last long enough for them to try.

And indeed, both nurse and doctor had difficulty getting blood, as her pressure was low and getting lower. They were kind enough to let me keep a hand on her, stroking and calming and talking to her, throughout. Finally, it was clear there was no pressure. A listen to her chest confirmed what I had actually seen in her eyes moments earlier: she was gone.

It's so strange to think that a tiny one-pound creature who was only with me for five weeks could have made such an impression, and won my heart so completely. (And I know in the face of disaster, privation, poverty, and hunger in the world mourning a kitten seems banal, but the pain of loss, like politics, is all local.) But Ty had such a vibrant, forceful (and yes, tyrannic) personality--which you've perhaps gotten a glimpse of in her blog--that it would have been impossible not to love her. She won many friends on her adventures, from the time she was a little kitten in the big city to meeting Adele (whose kindness in Ty's last hours meant much to me) and her daddy to her play at home; I guess she did a lot for a seven-week-old kitten. My heart is indeed broken by her loss.

Tink is home with me tonight. We don't know yet whether she's going to make it, but she is happy to be home, if lonely and baffled by her sister's absence. Prayers for her are still welcomed and appreciated. Anyone who'd like updates about her should contact me directly. There will be no more posts to Ty the Kitten's blog now that her charming yet demanding meow is silent.

Rest in peace, my tiny tigress. I will always love you.

Still Sick

Not-Mom is extra worried and asking people who know us to pray for us. We are still not eating, even with new, special food, and we're not pooping and now Tink has been throwing up . . . you can see why Not-Mom might be worried. We still climb on her shoulder, but we sleep in her lap a lot more, too. She lets us sleep on her sweatshirt when she's not with us.

Anyway, we still don't know what's wrong, so maybe it would be good if you did pray for us to get better.

We Are Sick

Not-Mom is worried. But we are still playing and climbing on her shoulder, so I think we will be okay. Not-Mom is sure trying hard to make us better.

I haven't been eating because I don't feel good, but I can't explain to Not-Mom what doesn't feel good. We're both pretty frustrated. I used to be bigger than Tink, but now she is a lot bigger than I am.

Tink isn't eating as much as usual, but she's eating, and that makes Not-Mom all happy. She knows what to do about Tink. I am an enigma. I like being mysterious. I get lots of attention that way. Not-Mom says she would still give me attention if I was eating.

Anyway, we both went to the doctor today. We didn't get to play with our friend Adele because she was busy, but Dawn said we were cute and Natalia held us and helped the doctor, and she said we were cute, too. The doctor gave us icky medicine for worms, and tested us for feline leukemia (yay! we don't have it!). He said Tink has an upper respiratory infection and sent her home with icky pink medicine to eat, and stuff for her eye gunk.

He gave Not-Mom some stuff to feed me, but I wouldn't eat it. Not-Mom keeps putting it in my mouth to make me eat it. I don't want to, but she says it will make me all big and strong. The doctor thinks maybe the icky worm medicine will make me feel better. It's not fair that I have to get all kinds of icky things! Anyway, we have to go back to the doctor next week.

Not-Mom is still very worried. She says she loves us very much. We love her, too.

Ears

I climbed on Not-Mom's shoulder and stuck my tongue in her ear. She laughed! Tink doesn't laugh when I clean her ears for her.

More Pictures from Our New House

Here are two more pictures from our new house. The top one is me walking up the ramp from the bottom floor to Not-Mom after we made a clean plate with our breakfast. The other one is Tinker hamming it up for the camera on the top floor. (I tried to play for the camera, too, but I was too close and it came out all blurry. Maybe 'cause I got my nose prints on the lens?) We are very comfortable in our new house. I still want to explore the rest of the world, though.

Today we got a new, bigger litter box, too, because we were kicking litter all over the bottom floor of our house. It's very nice. We can both fit in it at once, so nobody has to wait.

I got to sit on Not-Mom's shoulder today, too. Usually she doesn't let me, because she's afraid I'll fall, but I think she decided it was easier to just let me be than try to pull me back down while she was trying to get Tink to eat. (Tink eats fine; she was just acting needy because she wanted attention . . . and I wanted to climb up to Not-Mom's shoulder.) And I didn't fall down at all! I got to chew on Not-Mom's hair and look at the view from on high. (Okay, not that high, really, because Not-Mom's shoulder wasn't as high up as the top of our cage--which I can climb to!--but it was still pretty cool.)

I'm Not Really a Tyrant

Not-Mom has started calling me Tyrus the Tyrant sometimes. Just because I have a healthy set of lungs and I let her know what I want--and I keep telling her what I want over and over again because I don't know if she understands me until she gives it to me--that doesn't make me a tyrant. That, and I like to climb on her, and sometimes I might push past Tink in my enthusiasm. That doesn't mean I'm a tyrant. She better stop calling me Tyrus the Tyrant!

Daddy!

This is me with our daddy! He goes to school far away, so we never met him in person before. (We talked to him on the phone, and he reads about us on my blog. He thinks my picture is very cute.) Anyway, he came home today, and we got to cuddle and play with him. He has nice fur on his face.

(Not-Mom asked why I don't call him Not-Dad. He's the only daddy we ever knew, so he's Daddy. And anyway, as I said before, Not-Mom has been our mom for so long that she's our real mom now, because she's been our mom for most of our lives.)

Daddy likes my name. He says I was named after Ty Cobb. Daddy says Ty Cobb was a great baseball player. (I don't know what baseball is, but Not-Mom says she and Daddy and the upstairs cats like to watch it.) But Ty Cobb wasn't always a nice person. But Daddy says that's okay, it doesn't mean I'm not nice. He says I am very nice, and so is Tinker. He gave us lots of cuddles.