Another one gone…
My mother told me on Friday that they had on Wednesday taken one of our three cats to the vet’s and had her put down. This was not really unexpected. She was becoming an old cat now, our Dorthe, born in May 1993 – and a couple of years ago there was a tumour in her belly. At that time the vet took it out but said that at some point the tumours would probably be back that we should let her live as long as she was a happy cat. The tumours returned this summer so we knew that at some point we would have to let her go, and now I guess it was time.
At one point we actually had as many as six cats, all of them of the race Holy Birman.
The first one was Fremon of Ysatiz. He was born in November 1992 and I bought him in February 1993. He lived with me and my ex-boyfriend in Oslo, but my parents also loved him so much that they always asked for him to come stay with them on “vacation”. So for their 20th anniversary in August 1993 I bought them Karete’s Dorthe. I did take Fremon to some cat shows and at some point I thought that I might actually start breeding kittens myself, with this in mind I bought Karete’s Ellinor in January 1994. At that point in time my ex and I broke up, and I moved into a very small flat in Oslo that was not suitable for cats so even though I hated to let them go I realized that Fremon and Ellinor would be better off with my parents in Solör so they moved there. In June 1995 Fremon and Dorthe became the parents of three lovely kittens: Minas Tirith’s Darwin, Daisy and Dahlia. The plan was of course to sell the kittens. This is normally done when they’re around the age of 3 months – but this is also when they’re the most beautiful and we found we just could not sell them – and that was the end of my kitten breeding adventure!!! After all, you can’t go on breeding cats if you’re unable to actually sell them!
Well, since then we’ve had to put four of the cats down because of illness. This is unfortunately something that might often happen to race cats. There has been so much in-breed to bring out the perfect cat, on the outside – what they look like, that they’re not always very healthy.
Ellinor actually was crazy. She was always a very moody cat, but as she grew older she became more and more vicious. We kept taking her to the vet asking if there was anything we could do for her, because we could she that she was very nervous and that not a happy cat – but in the end there was nothing more to do – so we had to let her go, this was in 96 or 97.
Then one of our kittens Dahlia got tumours in her lungs and three years ago we had to put her to sleep.
Fremon was the next one to go, also because of tumours, this was last autumn.
And now Dorthe has left us as well, and we only have Darwin and Daisy left. They’re 11 years old now and so far they’re healthy and might go on to being 20. But when you’ve lost so many cats in such a short time you keep looking for signs that the remaining ones are ill as well. This is of course worse for my parents than for me. I love our cats, but sort of loving them from a distance. I come home and cuddle them and think it’s great seeing them again because I really love cats but I’m not by far as close to them as my parents and grand-parents (who live in a flat in the same house) are.
Still even though it is sad when animals die, what’s the alternative, not getting attached to animals because it will hurt when they die? Oh no, I can’t go down that road – because if I was to do that – well, think of how much it truly hurts when people you love die, and if you won’t love an animal because it will hurt when they die – then, what are you to do with people, stop loving them as well?
So, I’m sad for the loss of Dorthe, but I still have all the memories of the all good times she and the other cats have given us, so I’ll never regret for a moment having any of them in my life!
At one point we actually had as many as six cats, all of them of the race Holy Birman.
The first one was Fremon of Ysatiz. He was born in November 1992 and I bought him in February 1993. He lived with me and my ex-boyfriend in Oslo, but my parents also loved him so much that they always asked for him to come stay with them on “vacation”. So for their 20th anniversary in August 1993 I bought them Karete’s Dorthe. I did take Fremon to some cat shows and at some point I thought that I might actually start breeding kittens myself, with this in mind I bought Karete’s Ellinor in January 1994. At that point in time my ex and I broke up, and I moved into a very small flat in Oslo that was not suitable for cats so even though I hated to let them go I realized that Fremon and Ellinor would be better off with my parents in Solör so they moved there. In June 1995 Fremon and Dorthe became the parents of three lovely kittens: Minas Tirith’s Darwin, Daisy and Dahlia. The plan was of course to sell the kittens. This is normally done when they’re around the age of 3 months – but this is also when they’re the most beautiful and we found we just could not sell them – and that was the end of my kitten breeding adventure!!! After all, you can’t go on breeding cats if you’re unable to actually sell them!
Well, since then we’ve had to put four of the cats down because of illness. This is unfortunately something that might often happen to race cats. There has been so much in-breed to bring out the perfect cat, on the outside – what they look like, that they’re not always very healthy.
Ellinor actually was crazy. She was always a very moody cat, but as she grew older she became more and more vicious. We kept taking her to the vet asking if there was anything we could do for her, because we could she that she was very nervous and that not a happy cat – but in the end there was nothing more to do – so we had to let her go, this was in 96 or 97.
Then one of our kittens Dahlia got tumours in her lungs and three years ago we had to put her to sleep.
Fremon was the next one to go, also because of tumours, this was last autumn.
And now Dorthe has left us as well, and we only have Darwin and Daisy left. They’re 11 years old now and so far they’re healthy and might go on to being 20. But when you’ve lost so many cats in such a short time you keep looking for signs that the remaining ones are ill as well. This is of course worse for my parents than for me. I love our cats, but sort of loving them from a distance. I come home and cuddle them and think it’s great seeing them again because I really love cats but I’m not by far as close to them as my parents and grand-parents (who live in a flat in the same house) are.
Still even though it is sad when animals die, what’s the alternative, not getting attached to animals because it will hurt when they die? Oh no, I can’t go down that road – because if I was to do that – well, think of how much it truly hurts when people you love die, and if you won’t love an animal because it will hurt when they die – then, what are you to do with people, stop loving them as well?
So, I’m sad for the loss of Dorthe, but I still have all the memories of the all good times she and the other cats have given us, so I’ll never regret for a moment having any of them in my life!
posted by Lena M Bakke @ 3:18 PM
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