Sasha
A donation was made in memory of Sasha by Doctors and Staff of the not recorded on Jan 20, 2009.
Is it Possible to Say Goodbye?
(Story read to Sasha before she passed)
Sasha girl today is September 23, 2008. You have been there for me everyday since July 4, 1991. In the next day or so I will have to make the call that will end your life.
I met you for the first time when you were only a week or two old and I fell in love with your little face. It was very difficult to name you. I had a King so I wanted something that sounded regal so thought maybe Duchess or Princess, but they just did not fit. If you had been a boy you would have been Groucho. Your mom was named Tasha and I had a Kaja so I kind of just went down the alphabet and came up with Sasha. I'm not sure if I have ever spelled it correctly, but that's just me. It was quickly apparent that your name should have been piglet as you loved to eat.
You never were a very snuggly kitty nor would you allow yourself to be petted very much, unless it was a guy. For some reason you would get in Mark's lap and Dad's but never mine. In order to give you loves I would have to pet you while you were eating. This started a trend of you yowling at me when you wanted to eat. Mostly to get loves and then in your later years just to be fed. I know that in the last few weeks I have yelled at you for making so much noise and I apologize for it. You were probably trying to tell me you were going soon and to come and give you those pets while you were eating while I could. I would give anything to have you yowling at me at all hours again.
When you were small you had a buddy in our dog, King. You both were able to sleep on my bed but you and King had to stay on your own side or I would hear this growl coming from under the comforter. By the time you came to live with me King was getting to be a crotchety old man. The day or two before King died I got a picture of the two of you on the couch. You were sitting so close to him that I knew I would be losing him very soon. I snapped the picture knowing it would be the last one of the two of you. King died within days. I know that when King died you really missed him and wanted another dog to boss around. Instead a very needy damaged little guy came to live with us. No not Don but I do know that you loved him living with us.
Speaking of you and Don I have to let you know that you would make his day getting up on the counter and laying on his newspaper for pets and loves, purring up a storm. A practice you never ever did with me and that Dad loved to rub in my face. He loved you so. I think you were the first cat that ever treated him like that. I hope that when you pass on he will find you so that you can get on his newspapers again to give him loves and to purr up a storm.
Back to Skeeter, when he came to live with us you accepted him right away by rolling on your back so that the little fur ball could play with you. I was so glad that you allowed him to live with us as he really did need us. I am also very glad that you never gave me the heart ach that he did. You were there everyday when I woke up or came home. I never had to worry about if you would be around or not, as you always were. I thank you for this.
The days ahead of me now without you being there are going to be very hard. I know that I have to let you go and say good-bye, but it is breaking my heart. I find that fate is being very cruel to me to see you basically starve to death just like Dad and Rick. I will let you go before you are suffering as they were. As hard as that will be for me I will do that for you as you have given me nothing but love your whole life.
I feel so honored to have been your owner, friend, caregiver for all of these years. I will miss you forever. I hope that your spirit or ghost stays around my house for a long long time.
It is with great sadness and a heavy heart I relay the news of my cat Sasha's death. She passed away in my arms at 8:23 AM on Sept. 25, 2008. I had scheduled the vet to come and put her down at 9:00 AM that day. But true to her personality she did it on her time schedule not mine.
Sasha had been losing weight for quite a few months. In July we thought it was worms as all of her blood work came back normal for a cat her age, she was 17 on May 5th. She continued to lose weight so I took her back to the vet on Sept. 15th and had x-rays and an ultra sound done. The vet found thickening in her small intestines that was most likely lymphoma, a very common occurrence in cats her age. We also discovered that her pupils were dilated at two different sizes. This usually means a tumor in her head or she had had a stroke. This was not a good way to spend my 48th birthday!!
The vet wanted to try 3 meds on her. Sasha has never allowed herself to be pilled so I was immediately very skeptical if I would be able to give her these meds. I was not, as she gagged the pills up every time I tried to give them to her. Not wanting her possible last days spent running from me thinking I was going to shove pills down her throat, I decided to melt the ones I could in water and used a syringe to get them down her. This still was not pleasant but I was willing to try it to see if it helped. Sasha did not mind this as I did not have to really open her mouth to get her to swallow the meds.
I had a long conversation with my sister, Cathy, about all of this, so great to have a graduate of WSU's College of Veterinary Medicine in the family, and she agreed with all I was doing. Unfortunately, Sasha rallied for a few days then stopped eating on Monday the 22nd. At that time I knew I was going to have to make the hardest call of my life to have the vet come. The vet was not in on Tuesday but called Wednesday. I arranged for her to come at 9:00 AM on Thursday morning to put Sasha down.
On Tuesday and Wednesday AM she did not seem to be any worse. I still had not seen her eat but I did see her drink a bit of water. When I got home in the early evening on Wednesday she was much weaker and I knew she might not make it through the night. I was right as she passed away before the vet got to my house on Thursday morning.
Sasha was a very special cat who I will miss to the end of my days.
Julia S.
(Story read to Sasha before she passed)
Sasha girl today is September 23, 2008. You have been there for me everyday since July 4, 1991. In the next day or so I will have to make the call that will end your life.
I met you for the first time when you were only a week or two old and I fell in love with your little face. It was very difficult to name you. I had a King so I wanted something that sounded regal so thought maybe Duchess or Princess, but they just did not fit. If you had been a boy you would have been Groucho. Your mom was named Tasha and I had a Kaja so I kind of just went down the alphabet and came up with Sasha. I'm not sure if I have ever spelled it correctly, but that's just me. It was quickly apparent that your name should have been piglet as you loved to eat.
You never were a very snuggly kitty nor would you allow yourself to be petted very much, unless it was a guy. For some reason you would get in Mark's lap and Dad's but never mine. In order to give you loves I would have to pet you while you were eating. This started a trend of you yowling at me when you wanted to eat. Mostly to get loves and then in your later years just to be fed. I know that in the last few weeks I have yelled at you for making so much noise and I apologize for it. You were probably trying to tell me you were going soon and to come and give you those pets while you were eating while I could. I would give anything to have you yowling at me at all hours again.
When you were small you had a buddy in our dog, King. You both were able to sleep on my bed but you and King had to stay on your own side or I would hear this growl coming from under the comforter. By the time you came to live with me King was getting to be a crotchety old man. The day or two before King died I got a picture of the two of you on the couch. You were sitting so close to him that I knew I would be losing him very soon. I snapped the picture knowing it would be the last one of the two of you. King died within days. I know that when King died you really missed him and wanted another dog to boss around. Instead a very needy damaged little guy came to live with us. No not Don but I do know that you loved him living with us.
Speaking of you and Don I have to let you know that you would make his day getting up on the counter and laying on his newspaper for pets and loves, purring up a storm. A practice you never ever did with me and that Dad loved to rub in my face. He loved you so. I think you were the first cat that ever treated him like that. I hope that when you pass on he will find you so that you can get on his newspapers again to give him loves and to purr up a storm.
Back to Skeeter, when he came to live with us you accepted him right away by rolling on your back so that the little fur ball could play with you. I was so glad that you allowed him to live with us as he really did need us. I am also very glad that you never gave me the heart ach that he did. You were there everyday when I woke up or came home. I never had to worry about if you would be around or not, as you always were. I thank you for this.
The days ahead of me now without you being there are going to be very hard. I know that I have to let you go and say good-bye, but it is breaking my heart. I find that fate is being very cruel to me to see you basically starve to death just like Dad and Rick. I will let you go before you are suffering as they were. As hard as that will be for me I will do that for you as you have given me nothing but love your whole life.
I feel so honored to have been your owner, friend, caregiver for all of these years. I will miss you forever. I hope that your spirit or ghost stays around my house for a long long time.
It is with great sadness and a heavy heart I relay the news of my cat Sasha's death. She passed away in my arms at 8:23 AM on Sept. 25, 2008. I had scheduled the vet to come and put her down at 9:00 AM that day. But true to her personality she did it on her time schedule not mine.
Sasha had been losing weight for quite a few months. In July we thought it was worms as all of her blood work came back normal for a cat her age, she was 17 on May 5th. She continued to lose weight so I took her back to the vet on Sept. 15th and had x-rays and an ultra sound done. The vet found thickening in her small intestines that was most likely lymphoma, a very common occurrence in cats her age. We also discovered that her pupils were dilated at two different sizes. This usually means a tumor in her head or she had had a stroke. This was not a good way to spend my 48th birthday!!
The vet wanted to try 3 meds on her. Sasha has never allowed herself to be pilled so I was immediately very skeptical if I would be able to give her these meds. I was not, as she gagged the pills up every time I tried to give them to her. Not wanting her possible last days spent running from me thinking I was going to shove pills down her throat, I decided to melt the ones I could in water and used a syringe to get them down her. This still was not pleasant but I was willing to try it to see if it helped. Sasha did not mind this as I did not have to really open her mouth to get her to swallow the meds.
I had a long conversation with my sister, Cathy, about all of this, so great to have a graduate of WSU's College of Veterinary Medicine in the family, and she agreed with all I was doing. Unfortunately, Sasha rallied for a few days then stopped eating on Monday the 22nd. At that time I knew I was going to have to make the hardest call of my life to have the vet come. The vet was not in on Tuesday but called Wednesday. I arranged for her to come at 9:00 AM on Thursday morning to put Sasha down.
On Tuesday and Wednesday AM she did not seem to be any worse. I still had not seen her eat but I did see her drink a bit of water. When I got home in the early evening on Wednesday she was much weaker and I knew she might not make it through the night. I was right as she passed away before the vet got to my house on Thursday morning.
Sasha was a very special cat who I will miss to the end of my days.
Julia S.
