Category: Pets

Self-portrait with Kittens.

I really can’t bring myself to type out the full story, but Tasha never came home from the hospital. Her cancer was too advanced for us to do anything more than have her put out of her pain.

We got her in May 1996 from the North Shore Animal League. They did not know her exact age, but the estimate was between 9 and 18 months. So she left us somewhere between age 10 and 11. Too soon. Losing Tina was hard, but she was 17 and we’d had time to get used to the idea. It didn’t happen that way for Tasha. She crashed hard and fast.

Tasha was extremely shy, so even close friends and family did not really get a chance to know her. The only people she felt comfortable around were Scott and I, and even then, she would not cuddle with us except in her “safe place” — our bed. Above is a photo of her camped out between our pillows.

Rest easy, sweet girl. We miss you.

Tasha’s back at the animal hospital & will be there overnight.

UPDATE (8:35 pm): Got a call from her doctor. They found a “mass” in her abdomen, which could be several different things. They’re dong an ultrasound tomorrow and getting additional bloodwork done to try to hone in on a diagnosis. Some of the things it could be are Not Good, others are better, but overall we’re not very happy around the homestead tonight.

UPDATE #2 (9:06 mm Friday): It’s cancer. Meeting with the vet tomorrow.

We picked up our fourth round of kittens from the SPCA today. Two four week old boys, Aaron and Mason.

As they weigh less than one pound, we should have these guys for three weeks at least.

Allen and Edgar are going back to the SPCA tomorrow! We’ve had less than 2 weeks with them, but it’s been fun. Here’s Allen in the kitchen, getting ready to pounce on his offscreen brother:

OK, these boys wriggle like a bunch of wiggle worms whenever I go near them with a camera, so it’s been hard to get some decent photos, but these should do. The SPCA named them Edger, Allan, and Renford, but I decided there’s no way in hell I’m calling the third one anything other than Poe. How could you not?

Anyway, they’re darlings; social, playful, and very high energy. There’s an 8-ounce weight range between the smallest and the biggest, so at least one will go back to the SPCA for adoption before the others, but we’ll see how it goes.

Here’s Edgar and Poe. Edgar is the black one:

And here’s Allan! He’s the runt of the litter and Scott’s favorite: