ON LOVE AND DEATH ON VALENTINES DAY.

She was strong and muscular just like always.  Then she just quit eating.  I noticed that her dish had not been touched.  I watched her for a few days and she did not eat and was loosing weight.  
I called a cab and took her to the vet at MaxFund.  That is where I adopted her ten years ago.  The consensus of opinion was that she might have a tumor.  Older cats are prone to these things.  They can be healthy and then just suddenly tank.  She wasn't that old, I thought.  She should be good for another ten years.
She wasn't.  After several trips to the vet at Maxfund and about $500 she had lost half her body weight.  She was fur over bones and looked like a drowned rat.  It was obvious she wasn't going to make it.  Finally after it was apparent she was suffering and that she was down to her last couple of days I made one of the hardest decisions of my life.  I had to have my constant companion for the last ten years euthanized.
When the attendant carried her down the hall I could see her looking at me, her blue eyes filled with love and wonder.
  I got a card in the mail signed by all the employees at Maxfund.
I will always cherish it.
  I don't know if I will get another cat or not.  It's on the cusp.

I miss her.

(See blog post THOUGHTS ON THE POWER OF TURKEY AND UNCONDITIONAL LOVE / Monday, July 21, 2014.)