"Time spent with cats is never wasted" - Sigmund Freud
She was just a tiny ball of fur and claws when I got her and her sister. Black and gold with green eyes. She came home with me a few weeks after they were both born and right away you could see her personality was different from her sister. For one thing, she liked to suckle on people's earlobes. If you picked her up and held her to your shoulder she would, like a magnet, instantly stick to your ear and begin to suckle. Usually drool was involved, but it was endearing and I never forced her to stop. Eventually, when she was about four or five, she broke the habit and never really did it again. However, she did like to put her nose in my ear and purr as she got older. I like to think she graduated from suckling to purring. Either way, she had some kind of fetish for ears.
Her belly went hairless at about age 4. I was convinced she had alopecia, but the Vet thought she was just high strung. I never saw that. I just saw that her tummy never had hair on it. Maybe it was related to when we had her fixed. Who knows. It was adorable though. She was my own personal Totoro.
She got really fat, and at about age eight we found out she was diabetic. Gromit got insulin shots twice a day and had to eat special foot. Organizing vacations got a little more complicated because we had to arrange someone to give her shots while we were away. But we loved her so we did what was necessary. She also had a heart palpitation. This poor kitty had lots going on.
Around a year ago she lost enough weight that she was no longer diabetic. No more shots. Pretty amazing. But at that exact time she became hyper-thyroid, so we switched her over to a different prescription food where that was the only thing she could eat. It made giving our other cat, Yoshi, her special treats difficult.
On Christmas eve of 2013 Gromit started throwing up non-stop. She couldn't move without throwing up. She couldn't eat or drink. We took her to the vet and she had some x-rays taken. Her belly and bladder were full of gas. No waste, just lots of gas. They also discovered three different growths in various parts of her chest and near her lungs. More bad news.
We brought her back the day after Christmas as she was still throwing up constantly. By that Friday I knew what had to be done. She had stopped eating, stopped drinking, stopped going to the bathroom. She would bury herself in the closet in our bathroom. I didn't want her to suffer any longer.
We called Ark Animal Homecare. Sara knows Erika, the owner, and her husband Erwan. Ark does home visits. We explained out situation and that we felt it was time to say goodbye, and Erika came that Sunday afternoon. Gromit was comfortable in her home, warm and surrounded by Sara and I's love. I pet her while she got her injection and told her she had always been a good kitty and that it was okay to go now - that she had given me 16 years of happiness and love. And then she was gone.
I'm a pretty big animal person. I get very attached to my animals. I had Gromit her whole life. Needless to say, the day we said goodbye was very hard on me. She was laid to rest in Sara's parents back yard, where I can visit her when I need to. There is a space next to her for when it is Yoshi's time to go. I want these sisters to be together even after they are both gone.
It has been a little over a week, and I'm still very sad. I miss her terribly. I miss her affection. I miss her climbing up on my stomach every morning on the couch to say hello. I miss her putting her nose in my ear. I miss her liking being held over my shoulder so we can look out the back window at the birds and squirrels. I miss the way she meowed; not so much of a "meow" but more of a "meh" - even her speech had personality. She was one of my best friends for the last 16 years. She was a good kitty.
These words are for her. This post is my dedication to one of my beloved pets. She was a family member to me - so much unconditional love and she brought so much happiness in my life. There is a small part of me that will never heal because of her absence.
I miss you Gromit.
