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Sunday, June 5, 2016

On pets, and death.

We recently lost one of our beloved pets Pudgy the cat to a genetic illness. We were of course saddened by the loss. We will miss hearing her purr above our heads as we began to try to sleep at night. We "owned" her for around thirteen years. Although seriously I would say she owned us. We fed her upon demand, changed her litterbox twice weekly. Kept her water dish full. We would drop what we were doing to stop and pet her and gently rub her under her chin. In return she would purr. Or sometimes clean our hands with her tongue. We mostly miss the purr. It was a soothing bedtime ritual that she did over and over for at least ten years. Were time travel possible, I would go back in time. Sneak into our bedroom at night and record an hour of that purr to play at night as I climb into bed. We have three other cats. All wonderful pets, loving and purring almost on command. If you could command a cat to do anything that is. They are not known for their servitude. Each has a different personality, each special in their own way. None that will do the things Pudgy did for us. When we invest emotions in a creature that will only live at best a quarter of our lifespan, I suppose we should not complain. Of course geneticists are working on this. Experiments with mice have shown that slowing the aging process is a serious possibility. Although maybe it was the short and precious nature of Pudgy that made her so special to us. Isn't life made more precious a gift when it is finite? Would that purr be less special were it to last our entire lifetime? I suppose we will never know. There are those who have told us that we will meet her again in heaven. Which seems a silly thing to say. Would heaven for a human be the same as heaven for a cat? If cats love to catch and eat birds would there be birds in cat heaven? Would that be bird hell then? We cannot but wonder what sin a bird commits to be sent to a hell filled with hungry cats. Pooping on a freshly washed car? The point is of course that we will miss our Pudgy. She is buried out in the yard near her father Columbus who we lost last year. And on the property we have also buried our cat Bearman. And our Iguana Saura. All lived a good life with us. Or least as good of a life as we were capable of giving them. And over the years we will stop and remember them when we pass the spots where they were interred, although nature has probably long ago rendered those others back into it's embrace. And some day nature will do the same to us. We can only hope that we are remembered in as fond a manner. So it goes.