Saying goodbye
We put our cat to sleep the day after Mother's Day. Rowena was almost 19 years old and had multiple health problems, but it doesn’t change the silence, the lack of presence. That small, elderly cat had a big presence in our lives, especially towards the end. She became increasingly garrulous as she aged; each entry to a room was preceded by a series of meows, almost like a little old lady muttering and talking to herself. We think she also had dementia which caused her to caterwaul, an unearthly howl for no apparent reason, always when she was apart from us. Rick and I were her people, and despite Rick being the one to clean her litter box and administer her insulin shot, I was the number one human. Towards the end, she followed me around constantly, demanding attention. The next morning I got up and went to the bathroom unaccompanied for the first time in months. The euthanasia itself was calm and respectful. Our vet has a special room with a couch and soft “spa” music. We took...
