In Loving Memory of Rascal

Rascal and her BF Kallie

Rascal and Daisy, last month

Last Thursday I had to put Rascal to sleep. :( It was very sad and devastating for me. I just could't watch her suffer anymore.  She no longer looked comfortable and had a decreased quality of life so I did what was best for her. I feel like a betrayed her a little for some reason, like I didn't try hard enough, but she did live for almost 18 years. She was a big part of my life and I continue to keep thinking she is there when I move a round the house.  I know she had a great life and I need to not be so hard on myself and know she is not suffering anymore.

I buried her out but TJs house, he was soo supportive and help be build a wooden box and dig the hole, she well now be over looking the vast beauty of Wyoming sage brush and wind.

Hanging out with the girls

 She also made me think about my own mortality and family mortality and what I would do and react to my family members death...  As a nurse I see death all the time and except it for others I'm not related to but I don't have much experience with death in my family. So just brings all those feelings to the surface.

Always had to drink fresh dripping water even to her final day

Thanks Rascal for teaching me so much and always being there when I needed a
friend and someone to cry on.


I loved reading all my past posts about her so truly showed how much I loved her and that I wasn't betraying her my putting an end to her suffering. :(

I will miss you

 I will miss her greatly and she will always have a place in my heart. 

My kitty cat

Back in April I posted about Rascal and how she has become older and more sick.  I began to feed her wet cat food and she seems to rebound back.  Still about 5 lbs but was doing better.  Then, a couple weeks ago I was laying in bed and think I witnessed her have a seizure.  It was very scary even for my nursing background.  I know she has been in renal failure for sometime now and then she again had another seizure later in the afternoon.  So the go owner I am I took her to the vet, paid $300 and again learned she was in renal failure. The vet suggested a plan of care that could possibly "fix" her and prolong her life.
I decided no and just take her home.  Fixing renal failure in my 17 1/2 year old cat is probably not reversible. A couple days later she proceeded to have another massive seizure in the middle of the night and though she was going to die right there.  Balling my eyes out only thinking of her I struggled.  I called the vet the next morning and got a prescription for valium like the vet suggested.  The first time we gave her the valium it was sad but hilarious she couldn't even walk. Cutting back the dose to an amount that was more feasible. I haven't seen her have a seizure. There was one time where I didn't give it to her and she had another one so then I decided she does really need the medication.  The vet also said that valium would also increase her appetite. She now gets 1/4 tab of valium 2x a day and she seems to be doing better.  She is now neurotic about food and wakes me and my roommate up very early every morning and crawls in your lap when your eating and tries to steal bites.
Now I have a cat that needs to take valium daily to prevent her from having seizures.  I know the end is going to come but I cant let her go.  I understand the physiological aspects of what she is going though, but at this time she still eats, use the littler box and purrs, so i just don't feel right putting her to sleep now especially is the valium can help her for the time being. So now what do I do? I will always love her she means so much to me, I have grown up with her and all she is all I know.

Rascal

For years now I have been getting my geriatric cat shaved about once a year.  I just recently shaved her a couple weeks ago and it seems to have really taken a toll on her or she is starting to look her age.  She will be 17 years old in just a couple weeks.  But with in the last couple of days I have noticed how skinny and sickly she is.  I don’t know if I just notice it more since she has been shaved or she really has lost a lot of weight in the last couple of weeks.  Since I got her shaved all she really does is sleep in my bed and I rarely see her anywhere else. 

I use to think she would have another good couple of years but now I feel like she has days or even weeks…A couple days ago she pretty much stopped eating her dry cat food so yesterday I went and bought so wet canned food and tuna.  She has eaten some but not enough to sustain herself.

A part of my feels like I should just take her to the vet and help her move on but just the though of that makes me cry again.  I’m beginning to be one of those family members’ from work who can let their sickly hospice grandma pass on.  I have had here for so long I can’t even imagine my house without her.

I feel like since I got her shaved it has only made her weaker and I feel like it is my fault but I have to understand that she is old and has had a full wonderful life and understand that death isn’t always bad.  I have learned this in the 2 years of my nursing career. 

Well whatever happens if she lives for another couple days/weeks/months/years I will always love her!

My Next Creation

So now that I pretty much finished my other quilt besides the binding, I have been researching for future quilts.... so this is what I decided....

The strips came precut

Rascal will even think it's comfy

Crazy Hobby Ideas

The last year I have been really needing a hobby to do that will keep my interest for a long period of time.  After doing some very brief sewing with Rebekah and her mom I think it would be really fun to learn how to quilt.  (Yea Yea I know it sounds like a 60 year old hobby) but I really like creating things and would love to have quilts that I have made 40 years ago passed on to my family and possibly children if I ever have some.  I have a quilt my grandma made 20 years ago and I think it is beautiful and so full of love.

This also is a way to learn something this is important to know.  It seems like sewing is becoming a lost art and would like to be able to have the skill for the future.  There is a quilting place in Casper that has classes I’m going check out when I get home and see but Rebekah also knows how to quilt.  I would really like to go someplace and do it where I have designated time allotted. We’ll see what happens.

Now my next hobby you might think I’m a little off my rocker…but I want to become a rabbit breeder… Pause for laughter…..I know what you are think what has Wyoming done to her… And this is pretty extreme and I really don’t know what I am doing but I would like to learn.  I have been doing so research and it doesn’t seem too hard.   Of course these are going to have to be pedigree rabbits so I found some places in Northern Colorado (Because there are NONE in Wyoming) that have the right kind of rabbit (Doe) I need since my current rabbit, Cole, is a Buck….Yep crazy.  So we see if anything comes of this.  Plus where am I going to hold this operation in my Garage like where my current rabbit lives…I don’t know we’ll see.

J

This a video of my current Rabbit Cole and my lazy cat Rascal.

This cat!

This cat is always attached to me at all times its like having a 1 year old. Sometimes its nice but most of the time just a pain in my butt. I still love her though.

Cycling Water Bowl

For Christmas I got Rascal this cycling water bowl to make her stop licking the shower dry. My cat is very odd and has to have fresh running water and so I constantly have to keep a drip in the bath tub to fulfill her hydration needs. Most the time she is soaked after exiting the shower, so hopefully by getting a special water bowl this can be prevented. So the other day I set it up for her and she wasn't nearly as excited about it as I am. She still meows and bothers me to go turn the shower on to a drip I have only given in once since I got the new bowl. :)

Rascal Vs Rabbit

Who do you think was better at staring???

Rascal or Rabbit....

Rascal

At 4am in the morning when I have to wake up in an hour I though I would talk about my wonderful cat, Rascal. Many people know that it seems like I have had her forever, which pretty much have, more than ½ my life really. She is 15 yrs old and probably seems like she has another good 5-7 years in her. She is a domestic black and white longhaired kitty and now that I have her hair grown out has grey racing stripes down her side.

She cuddles with me, give me massages, we have conversations with each other that only we can understand and she really only likes me. I have been told that she is a bipolar cat which she likes you and then the next minute wouldn’t care less. She had been through a lot in her long lifetime: she has moved 7 times and has been able to adjust pretty well, and be pretty content anywhere she lives. I do get her shaved about every 6 month or so the last couple of years and I know she doesn’t enjoy at all. She has lived with the crazy kitty, Kallie where she succeeded in teaching her bad habits J and she might get to experience a new kitten in the next couple of months, Sam that might be successful in her demise. She has had no health problems her whole life; she has probably been to the vet like 3-4 times total all for check ups. She is however skinny, skinny, but I guess that is better the super fat and insulin dependent. She even has a hand painted portrait of her hanging on my wall J.

I love her very much I wouldn’t trade her for any other cat. Just wish she would be more accepting to other animals and wouldn’t make me nervous that she could have a heart attack if she isn’t my only pet.

Hairless Rascal getting along with Kallie

Full-blown hair do, enjoying her limited time outside

Just after being shaved

I think this is the closest they had ever been, and I bet Kallie snuck up on her

Getting a massage

Artistic Rascal

My bed was actually made before I left the house that morning.