Wordle 598 2/6
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Getting the kid to school yesterday was uneventful. Same for work. Two meetings but no activity required in either. I got a little work done on a document that's been hanging over my head for a while, but not as much as I should have. In the late afternoon I went grocery shopping, on foot for the minimal exercise
Meanwhile we took care of some cat stuff. T. sorted stuff out to give away. After shopping I threw away the kitty litter and put downstairs the litter box, water fountain, food dishes, and other stuff of his we won't need while we don't have another pet. We also called the vet and gave her the news. After dinner a neighbor who's part of a stray cat network (she took care of Buddy himself, before we came along) came over and took the food and other perishable stuff.
Dinner was a cauliflower bake. T. got the kid without me so I could work on it because it was time-consuming. I'm glad she did; even with extra time, it still wasn't ready until around 7.
I did my physical therapy right before and during reading to the kid. Better than not at all, but should have been earlier than that.
The aftermath
I don't know how we'll handle it when a human we're close to dies, the cat is hard enough.
Some stuff is simple. In addition to the cleaning we did yesterday want to clean thoroughly, now that he's not around to make a mess continually, but we didn't have the time or energy yesterday. One consolation for this is that my morning routine no longer includes checking for pee on the kitchen floor. It was a problem for us since his health started to decline in December, and we probably should have treated it as more of a sign that he was in pain too. I barely rinsed down the fountain and litter box before putting them away. But that's just the start.
Giving away the unused food, treats, etc. was simple compared to everything else (feeders, cat carrier, blanket...). Maybe we should keep the feeders, cat carrier, blanket, etc., because we might get another cat someday. But I always complain about clutter! Do we really want this stuff taking up space in the basement for maybe another cat someday? How thoroughly do I actually want to wash this stuff?
I'm also not sure about our usual vet. I wish she had made it clearer to us how things stood. In fairness, I don't think she ever actually used words like "cure", but I feel like I was in denial at least for a little while about how bad things were. Something to keep in mind with future pets, I guess.
The thing that seems the most unjust is the timing of it. He spent (whoops, I wrote "spends" at first) most of his time outside but comes indoors in the winter, especially winter nights. In December we noticed problems peeing, took him to the doctor, and they recommended about $3,000 of emergency treatment for a urinary tract stone that could have soon caused a heart attack or something. They recommended surgery because the treatment didn't solve the underlying issue, just the immediate crisis, but that would have been another $1,500 and at an inconvenient time so we balked. When we came back from holiday travel, the breathing issue overpowered everything else.
If this whole thing had happened three months earlier or later, we never would have noticed the peeing because he would have been outside too much. We probably would have taken him to the vet when his breathing got particularly bad. Quick, minor tests would have made the tumor very likely and we would have said our goodbyes with little added pain to him or expense to us.
But in defense of the cruel god who set the schedule for this, it could have been even worse. If this whole thing had happened one month earlier or later, we might have had that surgery.
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