Friday, October 28, 2005, 17:55
Nightshade. . .
We are having a very bad day here at Rural Route 2. Our little black kitty-cat, Nightshade, died this morning.
For those of you who have been reading my blog, you know that Nightshade injured herself earlier in the summer. The vets thought it was a hip injury. I took her to the vet twice for cortisone and pain medication. Each time she got better and was getting around all right and was eating and drinking normally. It's just that as soon as the cortisone wore off, she was in pain again.
Two days ago she again started having trouble walking. I got some more cortisone from the vet yesterday. Because she could not get around very well and had been lying around quite a bit, she developed pneumonia.
This morning when I got up, Nightshade was not in very good shape. I gave her some subcutaneous fluids to help with dehydration. Then I covered her with the heating pad to help keep her warm. I called the vet at a little after 8 a.m. to see about getting injectable antibiotic for Nightshade and something to draw the fluid off her lungs. I talked to the vet tech who said she'd have the vet call me.
The vet called me back at 8:30, but it was too late. Nightshade was already gone.
Nightshade was one of the kittens I acquired 13 years ago. She was born on June 8, 1992. Her momma was killed when she was only a few hours old. And in fact, her momma was killed because of my old gelding Kajun. This was when we lived in the southern part of the state, and I was keeping my horses at a stable. Kajun did not like another mare who was out in the pasture with him, and when she walked past his stall in the morning, on her way to her own stall to get her grain, he lunged out of his stall door at her. I was only moments away from closing his stall door. The mare jumped sideways and landed on the cat sitting right there -- and killed her. I knew the cat had just had kittens, and to make a long story short, I found the kittens in an abandoned dog house at the back of the barn.
To read the story of how I became a 'momma cat' click on this link
Becoming A Momma Cat
There is going to be an empty space in our house for a long time without Nightshade. She was our little "nurse kitty." If Randy or I did not feel well, if we had a headache or were sick, Nightshade would come and snuggle up with us and would stay there all day, if necessary, to try to help us feel better.
But even though there will be an empty space in our house without Nightshade -- there will never be an empty space in my heart because Nightshade will be in my heart forever. And I know Randy will agree. Nightshade considered herself to be Randy's cat. And Randy considered himself to be Nightshade's person.
I'm sorry, Randy. I wish I could have done more for our little Nightshade.
LeAnn R. Ralph
Friday, October 28, 2005, 00:59
New Sophie Pictures!
We now have some new Sophie pictures in the Rural Route 2 Photo Album! (Click on the link at the top of the page. Click on the picture to see a larger image.)
The new pictures of Sophie on are page 2 (click on the 2 in the upper right corner at the top of the pictures).
The one where Sophie is asleep in Randy's arms was taken a while back. The other pictures were taken Wednesday evening.
I can't believe how big she has gotten.
LeAnn R. Ralph