[CAT] Shakespeare, cradled and in a cone (alternate take)

One year ago, and still so missed.

[CAT] “Meww”

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[CAT] Relic, six months later

[CAT] Lost cat, Henry

[PHOTO] Blurry selfie, with portrait of Shakespeare

Shakespeare died a month ago. (Well, a month ago yesterday.)

I am fine. It is just–well, what a month this has been.

This has been a very weird experience.

[CAT] Shakespeare, framed, from Jim

[CAT] On Shakespeare

Shakespeare passed, peacefully and quickly, at 7:20 pm at the Bloorcourt Veterinary Clinic.

I was the better for him, and I think he was the better for me. I began to miss him the moment he passed, and the world around me somehow no longer seems to fit the way it should.

Still: Shakespeare had a good death, at the end of a good day spent mostly at home in comfort with people who loved and cared for him, and he had a better life. I would like to think I was good for him, and I know he was good for me; our voyage together from September 2008 on is one I would repeat.

(One major exception to this: I would make sure this time to expose him to Caitians, including M’Ress, at an earlier date. Positive role models matter.)

I grieve him, but I celebrate his life.

I am very deeply moved by the way that you have responded, celebrating with me his life in the past and supporting me and him in this hard time. The staff at the Clinic helped make this terrible thing bearable. I would also like to thank particularly Jim for supporting me at the Clinic, and Paul for managing today’s costs, across the Atlantic even. There are so many others who helped, in private chat and comments, that I fear the SHIFT-2 combination on my laptop keyboard would give out. I am grateful to you all.

I will be thinking of a way to appropriately commemorate his life. More info will come later.

Even after this sad day, I consider myself lucky. Thank you all.

I was lucky.

[CAT] Shakespeare, cradled and in a cone

One reason I have been offline recently has because of the serious health concerns of Shakespeare. They have detected a large and growing internal mass that has already produced external manifestations, quite possibly cancerous.

His quality of life is what I am concerned with. I will not make Shakespeare live for my sake; he deserves better treatment than that, to be made into an instrument so I feel better while he agonizes.

Shakespeare is a very good cat.

[CAT] Five #caturday links: Newfoundland, Australia, tracking, body language, bodies

• The rescue of cats from the Newfoundland outport of Little Bay Islands, now abandoned, was a success. Global News reports.
• Cats in Australia may be in a position to ravage vulnerable survivors of the wildfires. Wired reports.
• The Purrsong Pendant is a new fitness tracker for cats. CNET reports.
• Humans do need to be able to read the body language of cats, and not only to figure out when they are in pain. CP24 reports.
• Is anyone surprised cats might eat human corpses? Newsweek reports.

[CAT] Shakespeare, alerted at 6:43 pm