RIP, Simon in shiny things

First of all, my dad’s colonoscopy went well. He is fine and does not appear to be traumatized by the lack of willingness by the five adults around him to stir up a bowl of jello so he’d have something besides broth to eat during the prep. I am still a little peeved but making an attempt to let it go. Believe me, if it had mattered a bit to him, I’d be hearing about it. Over and over. For the rest of his days.

In less-cheery news, we had to have one of his cats put to sleep Saturday. Long-time OD-era readers may remember Simon and Maddy – we rescued them from Baker B’s parents’ cat-hoarder neighbors years ago, when they were teeny little kittens, maybe 6 weeks old at best. We took them home with us, nursed them back to health - I fed Simon from a dropper for at least a week; the vet didn’t think he’d live- and then my mom took them. That was 14 years ago, shockingly. My mom passed away six years ago and Daddy, who always proclaimed to be NOT a cat-lover, has kept them all this time. Not only kept them, but petted them, talked to them, and let them sit in his lap.

OH, he’s a photo I took three years ago and posted to FB- with the caption, “A few years ago this would have been #1 on the list of Last Things I Expect To See In This Lifetime.”

That’s Simon between his feet, and Maddy on his leg.

ANYHOW, last fall Simon started having eye problems. Well, he’d had eye problems his whole life - when he was younger he had terribly watery eyes that oddly cleared up after my mom died and Daddy started letting him go outside. But this turned out to be a growth on his third eyelid, which we had removed in October. Unfortunately it was cancerous and came back. We’d mostly been keeping him at our house since the operation - he also had thyroid problems and Daddy would worry to death if he couldn’t get Simon to eat. It was just easier for us to take care of him. And he was no trouble at all. He was a total sweetie, and my cats both liked him. (We also kept Maddy for a few weeks recently while Daddy was in the Veteran’s Home recovering from a UTI - that was no fun at all. She did NOT get along with my cats and it was several weeks of screeching and hissing and yowling catfights and I was very glad to take her back home).

He lost more weight recently and wouldn’t eat, so we took him back to my vet who found he had a tumor behind his eye. She gave him a steroid shot that she thought would help his appetite, and it did - he perked up and acted like his old self for about a month. Then he started going downhill - it seemed like he was finding it hard to eat, and Friday night he was drooling a bit, and the drool looked bloody.

I’m not going into any more detail because it was pretty awful and I’m very squeamish and still upset about it, but we ended up taking him to the vet Saturday and letting them put him to sleep. It was definitely time. The good thing is he didn’t seem to be in much pain, and now at least it’s over. We knew it had to happen; it was just terrible to go through. Oddly, despite having a LOT of cats throughout my life, I’ve never had to have one put to sleep. Baker B had gone to his mom’s house, an hour away, that morning but came back up when I called him weeping. He loved Simon too, and didn’t want me to have to do that alone - and wanted to be able to say goodbye to him too.

So on that sad note, I’ll post some Beautiful Simon pictures. I was a little astonished to find that I don’t have any of him and Maddy as kittens - none online, I mean, I have millions of prints. It’s shocking to realize we just had film back then. I need to scan them.

This was just a year ago - he looks very healthy. Note the watery eye, though. I think it was just starting to bother him.

Wearing a lampshade in 2008:

Hanging out with his sister about a year ago. He’s the one on the right. I’m glad now we’d been keeping him for awhile - and had taken him back home once and then brought her up to our house once. I don’t think she’ll realize he’s gone since she only saw him occasionally during the last six months.

Posing in a Christmas basket in 2008. Their coloring is so weird - they were very light as kittens, then got darker and darker, then got lighter again ---- currently Simon went back to being very light and Maddy is dark. Right now she’s the color he was in this picture.

Hanging out with Eddie in January:

Sitting on my dad’s diningroom table as I was trying to eat breakfast. Spoiled!! Another thing I never thought I’d see in my lifetime is cats on the diningroom table. In HIS house. Of course they’re on the table in my house.

Okay, time to go - I have an eye doctors appointment and am going to get new glasses. Which I really hope will give me better vision than the ones I am wearing right now. Bifocals, wonky, can never get them in the perfect spot.