Tanu, our faithful feline for the last 15 years, passed away this morning at 5:15am. She came to us when she was about 1 or 2 years old--so we're guessing her age to be around 17, a good long life for a cat. The day was December 18th, one week before Christmas. Mom saw a shaggy-looking creature wandering around the street. It went up to the house across the street from us...but the family who lived there already owned a cat, and had to turn it away. Dejected, it hobbled down to the middle of the street where it sat there meowing. When Mom opened the gate, it immediately pranced toward us.
She was a skinny little thing--we could see her ribs through her long-haired coat. At this time, Dad hated cats (he had a "traumatizing" experience with cats when he was little), so we decided to just feed her some leftover turkey and then turn her away the next day. She slept in a blanket-lined box we provided. The next day came--and it was a blizzard. We just could not find it in our hearts to banish this defenseless (she was declawed) scrawny creature into the snow-whipping streets. So Dad (very reluctantly) agreed to let her stay until spring, when the weather warms up. Our plan was to put up posters around the neighborhood for a lost cat first thing during spring.
That never happened. Come spring, she had her own room, a litter box, a bag of food, and was wrestling with a wad of plastic bag in the living room. Few months later, I would wake up in the middle of the night to a snoring pile of silky fur on my neck. Or she would be wedged inbetween Mom and Dad, (who, by this time, had fallen in love with her).
Over the years, she brought us comfort and joy. Giving food to a cat with that irresistible Puss-in-Boots eyes certainly cured my Dad of his hatred toward cats. She begged for everything, from chicken to corn to pumpkin to bagels. Yes she loved corn. Even in her last days, she begged for corn, even though her weakened digestive system could no longer handle it.
I tried to celebrate her "birthday" as often as I could. December 18th is technically not the day of her birth, it's the day she arrived at our house. One year, I gave her yummy canned cat food for her birthday, and stuck a lit candle on it...unfortunately my plan kinda backfired and she ended up singed whiskers and eyebrow.
And did I mention she had the cutest googly eyes?? Who can resist those?
Here she is, munching on the wheatgrass I got from A la Carte Kitchen at school. She loved to snack on grass in general. Guess they helped with digestion and getting rid of hairballs.
Then on August 18th, 2010, she suddenly had a seizure. She was having spasms that lasted for a minute or two. She seemed dazed and confused after--we were so worried! But then she seemed fine for a while. Over the following few months, she had several episodes of these seizures/spasms. She gradually lost weight. In the last few months, her appetite dropped significantly; she stopped begging and constantly drank water.
During the last few weeks, she stopped eating altogether. Her weight dropped some more; she was just skin and bones, light as feather...as if she was getting ready to fly away to heaven. She slept pretty much all the time, and got up only to take a sip of water.
Two days before she went, she did this strange thing where she would weakly get up from her sleeping spot, wander a few feet away, lie down, rest for a few minutes, then slowly get up to wander a few feet further...and repeat the cycle until she finally settled down in her original sleeping spot. I took this picture during one of those "wanderings" that she did. It looks as if though she's looking up at the sky, praying to God to accept her soul, that she'll be there with Him shortly. Indeed, two days later, on August 19th, 2011 (exactly one year after her first seizure) she passed away early in the morning. We will be burying her tomorrow in our bakcyard, under a pine tree.
Farewell Tanu. You will be missed, you will always be in our hearts. We love you.
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