Tuesday
We took Xena to the vet this morning to have one of her teeth pulled; it had been problematic for a while, but with the other problems, the vet didn’t want to do it until she got better. She hadn’t been eating (much) lately and this seemed a likely reason.

The vet called an hour later to say that she couldn’t do the extraction because Xena’s liver had failed and that she attempting to sedate her could kill her. She also said that despite all of the treatments that she’s undergone in the past six weeks, nothing had any effect – the liver damage was too far gone.

She had been in pain for the past couple of weeks and to prolong it would have been cruel, so we had her euthanized. I never had pets (except for fish) growing up, so this is my first experience in losing one. I’m doing all right with it… she was “Jess’ cat,” but I’m not sure that I’d be so “fine” if it was Sissy. Jess took it as well as could be expected. I asked to meet us after work. She did. She helped keep Jess’ mood up. Thank you for taking time out of your evening to spend with us.

Xena could be a holy terror (oxymoron, but apt). I remember when Jess would bring her over to my apartment and she would run laps from the living room to the bedroom and back. It wasn’t a big apartment, so they were very short laps. She would also jump on the bed and climb the rug that I had on the wall behind it. When she got to the top of it, the concept of “I have nowhere to go” would dawn on her. She’d hang there for a few seconds before dropping to the bed. Fortunately, she never landed on us.

She was a good pet and companion.
We’ll miss her.

NPR and Other News and Stray Toasters will return tomorrow.

It’s late and it’s been a long day.

Pax vobiscum.
Namaste.