by This morning I was thinking about what kind of cat I will need to look for when the sad day comes and Finney, my fur-monster, dies. He’s 13, and not in the best of health. He’s also a little senile, and from time to time he gets instantly mad, out the blue, and then he bites or swats me.
The thing is, Bleeck is such a terror and loves to play hard. I need to find a cat who can keep up with him and also get along with him. I miss having two cats who love each other and curl up together when they are not killing each other.
You know who I remind myself of? The character Catherine Deneuve plays in the movie The Hunger. She has eternal youth and life, and as her boyfriends age she has to keep replacing them. (Except in the movie it’s a little more complicated and horrible. She’s able to give the men eternal life but not eternal youth so when they age and become completely decrepit she puts them away in boxes in the attic.)
I have to keep replacing the cats I outlive. Except, I will never ever forget how after being diagnosed with pancreatic cancer my mother said it looked like she was probably going to need to replace her cat pretty soon. The cat was very old and she’d only just been diagnosed. It was reasonable for her to hope and plan on outliving her cat. She didn’t. She died five weeks later and her cat was adopted by my brother Douglas and his wife Robin. One of these days my cats will outlive me. It could be that guy in the back for all I know.
Well! That was a cheery post, wasn’t it?
Not morbid. It’s just life, after all. I have an old friend whose dog died when the man was 83 years of age. He loved that dog and said it was best that he not get another, mostly because the dog would outlive him, he was sure. Some months later, a mutual friend got a rescue dog and it was in need of a home, so she called my friend and he went to see the dog and the man and dog fell in love. So now my 85 year old friend has a young dog and is perfectly happy. Maybe the dog will out-live him or not. It doesn’t matter. They are happy together now.
That was a very sweet post Julia. Thank you.
It really was. Thanks for saying that Chris. I should remember to note when someone leaves such a lovely comment like Julia’s.
And I’m so happy that your friend has a new dog. It makes me tear up thinking about it. Pets make life better. That dog needed your friend and he needed the dog.
Thanks! In fact, that is exactly right – the dog and the man really needed each other. It gave them both a much needed new lease on life.
Pets make life better.