[Leica] Remembering Smokey

[jadams79 at earthlink.net (Kelly Adams)]

Hi Adam, I am very sorry for your loss; I know what you are going 
through for we are facing the loss of one of our beloved greyhounds to 
bone cancer in the very near future. It just breaks you heart.
Kelly
On Sep 7, 2004, at 1:06 AM, Adam Bridge wrote:

> Last Friday our 17 year-old kitty had to be put down. In the last
> month she had stopped eating and was losing weight fast. The vet found
> a mass behind her eye which was making it very painful for her to open
> her mouth or to swallow.
>
> Death by waisting is awful but since we live next to one of the
> world's great schools of vet medicine we took her to UCD. On Friday
> they did a CT scan which found another tumor on her spine and one in
> her lungs. They were all metastacizing carcinomas which do not respond
> well at all to chemo. So we decided to have her not awaken from the
> anestheia.
>
> <http://www.splitsecondfilms.com/2004-Sept/Smokey.jpg>
>
> Smokey was our daughter's kitty, since 3rd grade, and an ideal little
> girl's cat who would suffer the greatest indignities in silence (but
> only if Margaret did them.)  Outside the house she was an avid mouser
> who often delivered half-eaten prey to the back door for praise. Her
> greatest victory was a scrub jay who had been tormenting our dog.
>
> Smokey was a jumper and a climber. Our family room has an 18 foot
> ceiling and when be brought in a Christmas tree that almost touched
> the ceiling Smokey felt obliged to climb - and almost toppled that
> tree - and several other smaller ones in future years - more than
> once. She would even climb the step ladders.
>
> Smokey lived in a home ruled by a black tyrant named Sunday who
> absolutely forbade her to sleep upstairs. Our dog, Wags, was the
> enforcer. Both passed on but after Wags died it took nearly six months
> before Smokey would venture upstairs where she quickly found a home in
> my studio, on a cushioned chair, reaching out a paw to remind me to
> pet her from time to time.
>
> I was bothered by the expense of taking her to the vet school - so
> much to spend when so many are dying with less medical care than one
> of our pets could receive. And yet. And yet...she was FAMILY and it is
> only right she be treated with the same respect and compassion as any
> other member.
>
> The image I have posted was taken at the beginning of the year on a
> rainy January day. She didn't like the rain. I had been shooting cat
> pictures - I think Kyle (or someone) suggested that we do.  For some
> reason we didn't take a lot of pictures of her. A pair of green eyes
> deep in the Christmas tree for sure. I need to take more photos of the
> ones I care about.
>
> She was a wonderful cat.
>
> I will miss her terribly.
>
> Adam
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