Let me tell you a story: I have a cat, a really really really old cat...

Day 7
100+ in cat years---well well over 100




she has been going downhill noticeably in the past couple of days. We told the girls today that her time could be tomorrow, next week, next month...all we know is that she is going downhill and so we want to give her the last bit of love that we can in our cat hospice. We are hoping that she can go outside one day and just fall asleep in that perfect cat sunny spot-oh that we could choose our demise. And she has been giving me the look-if you have been with a pet for a long time there is a look they give you from your bond when they tell you when they are ready for you to let them go.

We let her go outside today and she perked up a little-she has a routine where she goes outside does 2 laps, sleeps in the sun and then comes back in...even when she was younger she never left the yard-that is how cool of a cat she is. She even played in the snow after we bundled her up in a jacket to go out.

This is a cat who can and has pretty much done everything in her life (lives). She is the matriarch of our family, the one who disciplines and trains any new animal that has come and gone in our lives she has outlived almost all of them. She has that old lady look, that rheumy look, she has seen everything been there done that been dressed in the t-shirt.

She did not mind traveling and in fact she is the one of our only cats who moved with us cross country several times because she is so adaptable...we had 2 others but instead of stressing them out a few moves back in another state we left them with forever loving homes of close friends who loved them in return.

Up until just a few days ago she was up and down the stairs, battling with the kittens (training lots of training), hogging the food dish and batting scraps of paper around in a game of paper ball soccer.

Misha though....this amazing cat.... she traveled with me wherever I went, she has been through the abuse and divorce of my first husband. In fact when I started dating my current husband over 15 years ago she chose him and let me know it too. Turned him into a cat person and loves him something fierce....will defend him if the newest kittens try to snuggle with him when she is around(they are not really kittens they are about 3 but to Misha they are merely whippersnappers). My hub whose bday was yesterday cried today mostly thinking about how sad the girls would be so after a long conversation we decided to let them in on the knowledge that her time is coming, the signs are there.

We cried, hugged and as a family decided that as long as we could we would hospice her here at our house so she could die with us around her. We planned her funeral. We planned how and where she will be buried. We planned what plants to grow above her that her spirit would enjoy. We talked about her spirit. We talked about getting more kittens because she was rescued and we know that there are so many more animals out there looking for homes but that we would not get some soon only once we all together decided we were ready. Just to be as prepared as one can be for death-which of course no one can be prepared for but we did not want this to come as a surprise for the girls we wanted them to be a part of the decisions.

Even though this is my cat she shifted in her allegiances after I met hub and then after G1 was born she tolerated a new citizen and then when G2 was born she adopted her wholeheartedly. Misha would head butt her purring as loudly as she could whenever G2 was near and in fact sought her out to sleep and snuggle with- it was not till years later that she went back and accepted G1 into her life.

And oh I am so sad but so comforted that this is a cat who has lived a LONG life in peace and happiness, has been there for me more times than I could count more times than I knew I needed someone but what a life what a life if only we should all be as lucky to have lived such a life with such love.















This was taken almost 20 years ago back when her eyes were clear and she was in her heyday! Yes she was always on the plump side and a bit vertically challenged. She was the runt of her litter and not expected to live-she is half the size of a normal house cat with a runt of a tail. But she was mine the minute she looked at me at 6wks old.


So how does this relate in any form to crafting? Well the girls have asked that I make something either a stuffed animal or a pillow or something to remind them of her...I was considering making them each a quilt with some appliques of her and the things she has done places she has been. Any ideas?