Cat and Woman Aging Together
By Suzanna Leigh
Beside me, Steve holds his cat Bunny gently, wrapped in a blue bathroom towel. We are driving to the Fair Isle Animal Clinic. The glow of love emanating from the two of them fills the car.
This may be Bunny’s last day. When Steve called me first thing this morning, he was sure she had passed in the night, nor could I detect a heartbeat or a breath when I touched her lying on Steve’s bedroom floor. She was very, very still, splayed out in front of the bowl of water Steve had brought her.
Then Steve spoke and she raised her head. Steve called the vet and now we are on our way.
Bunny came to us in 2011, when my brother John moved his bookstore into the basement of mom’s house so that he could take care of our aging dad. Bunny, whose rabbit-like tail inspired her name, was already eight years old then. She stayed behind when John moved out again after dad died. She is now just short of 23 years old!
I joked that Bunny watched mom turning 100, then 101, and forgot how to die. Cat and woman kept on aging together. I thought Bunny figured you don’t die; you just keep on getting older.
As Mom’s appetite waned, so did Bunny’s. As mom spent more time sleeping, so did Bunny. Mom could still get in and out of bed with a little help, and Bunny could still jump up on Steve’s bed.
Until last night. Bunny couldn’t even get up onto her feet, and this morning she wasn’t moving.
As we drove to the vet, Bunny limp in Steve’s arms, I could feel Bunny’s loyalty to Steve, to the family. I knew that even when she leaves her body, she will not leave Steve.
The vet confirmed our suspicions. Bunny was in pain. She would not get better, though she might linger a few days.
We buried Bunny behind the azalea hedge three hours later.
Mom, on the other hand, was telling stories to Noelle, one of her caregivers, when we got back! She hadn’t been able to tell her stories – to get the thoughts together or the words out – for months! Now she was telling a story from her childhood with details she hadn’t shared before, one word or phrase at a time. I’m not sure how much was memory and how much was embellishment, but hey!
After an early Mother’s Day Celebration with five days of visits with family and friends, I thought Mom would be exhausted, but no! Her appetite and liveliness are back – at least for a time!
