Goodbye Tiger

My cat

of almost 16 years died yesterday. I found out 3 weeks ago that she had cancer and there wasn't much the vet could do. He wanted to do surgery and remove the tumor, but I'm sure it had already spread because she was losing weight and not moving around much anymore. It was a very sad end to a very bad weekend.

I'm still feeling weak from being sick for so long. I got sick the day I found out she had cancer and can't seem to shake whatever is making me sick. I got tested for the flu/swine flu and the test came back negative. Today the doctor wants to do a chest x-ray, bloodwork and urinalysis to see what else is going on. This weekend, I slept 15 hours on Saturday and then Saturday night slept 12 hours more. I tried to vacuum the hallway upstairs and had to take a nap because I was so tired.

I feel better this morning, maybe the stress of the sick cat was getting to me and I didn't realize it.

Tiger was not the best cat in the world. She would pee on clothes if you left them out and scratched up the couch, but she went through a lot with me. I got her when I had my first miscarriage. I had to drive all over the world to find her because there weren't any kittens around at the time I wanted one. I finally found her at a pet store in Sacramento, near the zoo. She was about 3 or 4 months old at the time. I paid $35 for her for the adoption fee . They put her in a cardboard box for me to take home and on the way home, she got out and was running all around the car when I was driving on the freeway. I almost named her Trickster. The first few months were rough because she wanted to play at night and would keep my daughter awake by jumping on her face in the middle of the night. I had to lock her in the bathroom at night and then she would meow. She has always been 100% indoors and was so afraid to go outside. You could leave the doors wide open and she would never go out. Sometimes, if she wasn't feeling well, she would sneak out and get a bite of grass and come in and throw up in the middle of the floor, but she was always so afraid to be outside.

She didn't like to be held, or petted too much. She would meow and hiss at you if you scratched her in the wrong place, but she never bit anyone. I think she just liked to talk a good talk and scare people.

I will miss you Tiger.