2010-09-07:
The last picture of her I'll ever take.
So last night Tamara died. Not all that surprising given her condition, but how she died must be told. It actually begins years ago, as she would not let me trim her claws at all. Just her seeing the clippers would make her run away. So she always had long claws, apart from when I could sneak one or two cuts in here and there.
It of course got worse these last three months or so as she's been hiding out under the TV in my basement, making it impossible to get to her. So she was sticking to everything. I put a sheet of plastic down from the TV to her water dish so she could get to it without sticking.
Imagine my surprise when she actually came up two days ago. She wasn't any better, she was not eating and acting very unsteady, but there she was. Last night when I left her, she was in my closet, a favorite hiding spot. She wasn't there in the morning. I checked downstairs, then thought maybe she went out to the breezeway. Well, she had. She had gotten up on the coach and then apparently tried to jump down. Her front claws prevented this. And there's where I found her this morning. On the floor with her body twisted around, claws caught in the couch.
I can only hope she didn't struggle for long. Just thinking that she was caught there, probably crying and meowing for help, for who knows how long makes me feel terrible.
Before her illness she would come and see me every night, without fail, before I went to bed. She was never demanding, always loving. After Amanda died more then a year ago, I didn't give her long either, so she surprised me. She is now buried in the back next to her sister, so they are once again together.
Thanks for the memories, Tamara.
And a thank you to my parents for the help on Labor Day, you turn two days of work into a couple of hours, so thanks. Glad you got to see her one last time.