Opinions still conflict when it comes to if she was a good cat or not, but I belive she was. Missy died yesterday at around 3pm at the ripe old kitty age of about 17, from a combonation of massive cranial infection and cancer. We addopted her when she was fully grown, so we don't really know when she was born but we do know that she was abused in her previous home -- and because of this, she was often an angry feline but never around my father and I. In fact it seemed that we were the only two humans in the world that she not only trusted, but loved. She would often come into my room and sleep on my bed at night; snuggled right up beside me or atop me, and continued to do that until a few days before her death.

After my Father died in early 2001, I took it upon myself to take an extra interest in the then eldery feline, and she eventually let me do something she only would let dad do: rub her tummy. However, the good times were not to last. in 2003, she developed ear problems, getting this awful odor in them. When we took missy to the vet she said that she didn't have long left anyway.. which I felt was a bit cruel to say, and that she probably wouldn't survive surgury.

Well, we opted against surgury and instead tried to give her ear medication that would prevent the ear stuff from getting worse.. but she just cried and clawed so much that no one would help me put it in her ear.. and at the time, she was too much for one person to handle. in earlr 2005 I noticed her getting a little weaker, and I almost didn't go to the past Anthrocon because I was so worried about her. She was getting her claws stuck in the furnature because she didn't have the muscle to tug them back out again. Other than this she was a strong, strong cat and wouldn't hesitate to smack the other cats in the house that got close to what she considered "her food". She began growing deaf in one ear due to the growth in her right ear, and would often scratch at it.

One morning I awoke to find the sheet we placed on the chair in the livingroom covered in blood spots. I walked into the kitchen and found a chunk of missy on the floor -- she had ripped one of the growths from her ear with her bare paws. I did what I could for her, but ultimately I think her ear became infected even though she was happy as a calm that she could hear out of both ears again.

Shortly after this, Missy came began using the area outside of the litterbox to deficate, right in front of the washer/dryer. But since it wasn't on the carpet I didn't see much of a problem with it, just messy and smelly thing to clean up as it wasn't firm. She continued to use the litterbox area to urinate, however.. don't ask me, she was excentric..

After a few weeks of this began her end.. at first she didn't smack at the other cats.. so I knew something was off.. shortly after that she developed a sniffle, and as we all know if you have a suffy noce you can't taste a damn thing. I tried several times to hand feed her, seafood and stuff but she was too weak to chew. Luckily she still drank milk once or twice a day which helped keep her alive.. but that's about it. This continued for a couple days until she started floping down on her side and breathing heavily after a short trip; I noriced that her milk in the bowl had been switched out to water! And since she couldn't tell the difference she kept drinking.. well I switched it back to milk let her come into my room to warm her bones.. then in a few hours led her back down the hall. She was sleeping atop one of my dufflebags, then when I went to bed she was asleep in the sheet-covered chair.. This was this past friday.

Saturday was a sad day indeed, I discovered that she had injured herself or something happened to her brain durring the night because she managed to get most of the way down the hall to my room when I discovered that she couldn't move her right rear leg. she could move it, just not use it to walk..

At this time I was ready to put her to sleep.. but no one wanted to take me to the vet to do so. or at least that was their attitude. the other cars both had dead batteries so I could just drive her there, and by the time they got back home the vet would of been closed -- she had no other choice but to suffer and it ripped my heart out.

Sunday morning I got up after only a few hours of sleep and went to get a snack.. I gave her attention the best I could; then at about 2:30pm, I picked her up and held her for the last time.. she was limp nearly, and could only weakly meow; on her breath I smelled the inmistakable stench of rotting flesh.. I gingerly layed her back down and went outside to dig her grave.

By the time I got back inside my baby, the cat I have litterly known for all of my life was dead, still warm but no heart beat. I placed her in a box then went outside and built her a little wooden coffin out of the wood that was availible with my bare hands. I placed her in the box with one of mom's "good" hand towels and sealed the top then by the light of the moon I burried her near the creek.. All of this took about 3 hours, but it felt like a month.

Stubborn to the end, and while she might be gone I'll always love her.

Rest in peace, Misst girl.. you've earned it.