This year has been a rather hard one on this household, having gone from 8 cats and a dog to three remaining cats surviving.
The first losses were Trixie the wonder cat and her only calico daughter Calamity. Then Lucky went missing and did not return home. This was followed some months later with the Great Galway becoming terminally ill and being infested with maggots to the point he had to be put down.
Perhaps saddest for me was Chewie, my wolf/chow mix who even in the end seemed to be saying she was not ready to leave my side. I just could not bear to watch her suffer just to be with me. There is a hubpage dedicated to her dying by my hand at http://hubpages.com/hub/My-Best-Friend-Died-Today-By-My-Hand
Sometime between 8am and 9am this morning Brigadier Boots died. Being an insulin dependent deaf cat with few teeth left and his kidneys and liver failing, it was only a matter of time before he succumbed. All that is left now is to give my father the news of his favorite cat passing on.
So now there are three. Cat Mandu, Tyger and Rascal. The last vestiges of our furry family. Cat Mandu looks for Boots, and probably will for some weeks since he always sought out his older brother to curl up next to. Tyger is working on becoming far less feral and likes to spend more time in the house than she ever did before. Rascal will probably not miss Boots since Boots had taken over her place on my bed over the last few months of his life and she is convinced she should be an only cat.
None of these deaths are really a surprise, considering the youngest animals are over 17 years now, and most who passed were between that and 18 years old. It does not make it any easier to let go of those family members.
