Sad cat news again

While Ubbi is doing better than ever, a misfortune rarely comes alone. Today, my sis and I had to bury one of our oldest cats, Minimuss (named after a cat we had had called Mini). Now Mimi is the only remaining cat from their litter of five.

We discovered Mini was missing on tuesday night. It isn't unusual for our cats to be gone a whole day if the weather is good and had this been, say, two years ago or more I wouldn't have worried. Mini was good at taking care of him self, but these last years it's become more and more evident that he was getting old and after an illness he didn't ever fully recover. Lately it was even getting hard for him to jump up on our bed and in through the window our cats use as a cat flap. And the hot days this summer were very hard on him. He used to be so vigorous, but the last two years and especially the last year, he rarely even left the yard. And mean Mini who hated all young cats and was a My Cat from Hell candidate, became sweet, peaceful and cuddly Mini. He was getting old and his general health wasn't making things better -- after all, Mimi is just as old but much more like her old self, not marked by ailments. I knew it was a matter of time, but I still thought it was a matter of years. Not many, but still more than this.

We didn't find Mini when first looking for him. Now, both me and my sis are ill so many we were just too tired to spot him, too weak to make a thorough investigation on the spot. But it isn't sure it would've helped. When my sis did find him his body showed signs of having been dead for some time. Perhaps he wandered off to find a secluded space already on monday night or on tuesday morning when we weren't home. It's all just so horrible, thinking of him dying all alone. I know cats sometimes do that, but it's been very long since anyone did that here. His brother for example, defied everything to get home to us when he was dying. Barely concious and beyond help, at least he didn't have to die alone and pestered by flies. Mini died alone, covered in dew under the wild raspberry bushes. There's a spot by the bushes, against the barn wall and facing the morning sun, where some of the cats, especially the older cats, like to rest. I hate to think that maybe he got out at night and was then too weak to get back in and went there to get some cover from the dampness. The days are reasonably warm, tuesday was summer warm, but the nights can be cool and dewy, sometimes even with some drizzle.

I wish I could think of something beautiful to say about him, but the truth is that after not having been able to sleep for a whole night this week due to cough and chills/overheating I can't find words, my brain is wrapped in cotton. It's like I can't even really take in that he's dead despite having seen his body. I will save some photos of Mini for a Meowy Monday and hope to have something better to say about him then.

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Above is one of my last photos of Mini -- he wasn't much for posing so we don't have that many pics of him -- and below is one from his youth. You can read the story behind the photo here. I didn't have a camera when they were born so there's a limited number of photos from when they were kittens too.