Goodbye my Sweetheart

 Although I had intended to keep all posts here and at FB focused on Danny for the full 49 days after his death, we can't always do exactly what we intend. Last week something happened that devastated me and this household, and I have to speak about her here because she was so cherished and with me for so long - a couple of months longer than Danny.

My sweet, precious, unassuming, beautiful, slightly feral cat Evita, died.

 

 

She developed oral cancer - a truly awful bleeding, ulcerated lesion in her mouth - a few weeks after Dan left us, and we had no choice but to let her go, at her age, and given the gruesome nature (and lack of viable treatments)  of this cancer.

I am struggling greatly with loss, stress, PTSD, and more right now so this will be a brief entry. I have Evita stories and they will be told. Right now, I need to prioritize work, staying upright,  healing - and every blog entry takes me half the day (yes, I am that tired). So this entry will acknowledge the passing of my sweet girl, and more of her stories will emerge overtime.

I bought Evita on impulse, in the summer of 2006, when in  Ottawa to pick up animal supplies in a store I frequent - her mom, as I recall, was a feral/rescue - the kittens were for sale and I was taken with Evita right away. I remember the staff called her "The Wolverine" because of the tufts of greyish fur behind her ears. I remember that the big haul of animal food, treats,  and chewies cleaned me out financially, so I had to ask them to put her on hold for a few days...lean times, 2006. I drove back in a few days later and picked her up. She was  very small and attached herself to me right away. She used to sit  right by my computer every day - I wish I had better photos of those times.

                                  One of my favorite pics of the Veets, as a kitten

                            Here you can see the ear tufts a bit...she was just a little baby

Evita  got out of the house when she was very young, under a year (it was always hard to keep cats in, back in Rupert) and predictably, came home pregnant. Her first pregnancy, all she wanted was to lie with Danny, who, sweet darling that he was, happily obliged. That litter produced just two kittens - Tyler, who vanished one day never to be seen again and Amidala the Faerie, who was to become one of the great heart-connections of my life.

                                        The Faerie Amidala

Evita, pregnant with Amidala and Tyler, and a very young (and sleepy) Dan Dan.

A month after I brought Veets home, I lost my heartdog Luke to hemangiosarcoma - no warning, just a catastrophic bleed in the middle of nowhere, and he was 130 lbs -  and 7 weeks later I brought Danny home. They grew up together - and I lost them both within weeks this year.

Today I just wanted to acknowledge the passing of my beautiful, affectionate, undemanding, lovely lovely girl - part of my life for so so long - and say to the Universe, or whoever might actually read this blog - Evita was here, she was so so loved, and I will miss her and remember her always.

Goodbye, my Darling. I will never forget you.