Furry Tails of the PDX pride: skylar

Showing posts with label skylar. Show all posts

Tuesday, July 26, 2022

A Gotcha Day anniversary, a Bridge Day anniversary, and a new angel

The PDX pride mama here. This post is not one that I wanted to ever write. I'll start with the good thing. Today is Freya's & Heimdall's 12th Gotcha Day anniversary! After Skylar went to the Bridge 12 years ago (that was on the 23rd), I was looking at kittens online at Salem Friends of Felines and saw Heimdall's picture. I showed it to Scott, then he saw that Heimdall had a sister. We knew then that they had been sent to us by Skylar & Lydia, because they looked so much like them. Freya & Heimdall were 3 1/2 months old when we got them.

Now, the sad news. Only Freya is here to celebrate. Heimdall went to the Bridge on the 23rd, so he now shares a Bridge Day date with Skylar. In April, Heimdall came down with a really bad double ear infection. We took him to a vet we hadn't used before (mistake #1) instead of our regular vet because we couldn't get in to our regular vet in a decent amount of time. The other vet diagnosed his double ear infection, gave us medication (actually four different ones) and we were told that he had a "mass" in his right ear that would continue to grow and had ruptured his eardrum. Mistake #2, because the "mass" was actually an ear polyp which ended up shrinking back down without damaging the eardrum. We were told that he would have chronic ear infections, a head tilt, and awkward gait for the rest of his life.

Because of this (mis)diagnosis, we didn't get him rechecked more than once after that initial visit (mistake #3). He started going downhill fast the last three weeks. He was very lethargic, had given up, and wasn't interested in food (although he was still eating, just more because he thought he should rather than because he felt he needed to eat). He shakily climbed up onto the futon to snuggle with his daddy the last couple days of his life. He wasn't grooming himself at all, even when he fell down in the litter box, since we took him in to that vet in April, and he started to resent me trying to clean him up. He had litter caked in-between his toes that he didn't take care of, so his daddy and I had to. We made the appointment to put him to sleep.

At his appointment (with our regular vet), we were told that his eardrums were intact, his ear canals had a lot of debris in them but that the vet could see the eardrums which didn't look damaged at all. The vet said there were small polyps (probably what the other vet had called a mass) that were not impeding the ear canal at all. However, because his sinus infection had blown all out of proportion due to being untreated (because we had thought the symptoms were from ruptured eardrums and the mass), his poor body was so weakened that he would've had a long, uphill battle to regain his health. I made the decision to not put him through that and to put him to sleep instead. I held him while the vet gave him his shots. He growled at the vet and stuck his tongue out when the vet put his paws back onto my lap, but then he put his head down on my hand like he loved to do and was gone.

We brought his body back, opened the box, and let the others say their goodbyes. Freya curled up in the box lid, so we had one dead tuxie twin in one side of the box and one live tuxie twin in the other. She's kind of lost without him, since they have never been apart since they were littermates. I had to lift her out of the lid twice so that I could hand the box with Heimdall's body to his daddy. He buried him by the roses under the cedar tree in the backyard, near where Carbon and Rori are buried.

I just finished writing an e-mail to the other vet, telling them what happened. So many mistakes on their part and on our part. We feel so guilty for letting our boy down by not taking him for a second opinion. We should've done more for him. He should be here to celebrate today with his sister.

Heimdall with his favorite toy, a fishy potato chip clip

Heimdall Skylar

March 24, 2010 to July 23, 2022

Monday, October 26, 2015

Remembering Skylar and Lydia on their Birthday

Today we remember Skylar and Lydia especially, because today is their birthday. They were Mommy's first kitties, and they were born on October 26, 1999. Lydia lived until 2008, and Skylar lived until 2010.

They started out being part of the Rich family in Portland, who were neighbors of Mommy. Skylar would garden with Mommy, eating tomatoes! Lydia took a while to warm up to Mommy, but she would watch while bird-hunting. They were inside-outside cats, a bonded pair of littermates, who would cry at the screen door if one of them was inside while the other one was outside. They loved the Rich family, and considered the kids their people.

When the Richs had to move across the country, they asked Mommy to adopt Skylar and Lydia, because Skylar had already adopted Mommy! Of course, Mommy said she would. Mommy became Skylar's person, but it took a while for Lydia to choose Daddy. At first, Skylar and Lydia lived at Mommy's boss' house, because Mommy was a nanny. After a few months, and a few escape attempts, Skylar and Lydia were brought over to Daddy's and introduced to (then kittens) Tabby and Carbon. Immediately, Lydia became the alpha cat of the household, although she gave her brother more leeway than anyone else. She ruled the household with an iron paw, and could send anyone (including Skylar) flying across the floor with a double-paw slap!

After hiding and making it obvious that she despised the relocations, Lydia made up her mind to choose Daddy as her person because she wanted to help him heal. He had just had knee surgery and was confined to the couch for most of the time. One day, while he was sleeping, Lydia climbed up on his side and settled down. When he woke up, she was staring right into his eyes, telling him that she was here for him and would always be. From then on, he was her person.

After Lydia died, Skylar was heartbroken. A few months later, we thought we were going to lose him, too, but then Starla came into his life. She was a young cat, just over a year old at the time, and very skittish, having come from an abusive and neglectful home. Skylar adopted her as "his kitten", and the two bonded almost like he had with his sister.

Three days after Skylar died, we adopted the "new" tuxedo twins, Freya and Heimdall, who are now five years old. They remind us every day of their aunt and uncle, and are a constant joy in all our lives. We know, absolutely, that our original tuxedo twins sent them to us!

Happy Birthday at the Bridge, dear angels Skylar and Lydia! We love you and will never forget you!

Thursday, July 23, 2015

Remembering Skylar....

Skylar, there isn't a day that goes by that we don't think of you and how you lit up our lives. I dreamt about you, and woke up feeling a presence behind me on the pillow. No one was there, at least no one living, but I believe you came to visit us so I smiled and said hi to you.

In some ways, it doesn't seem like it could be five years since you left us. In others, it seems like more than that because our lives have changed so much since then. Your other mommy, Erin, and your little boy, JJ, are doing fine. We know you loved them just as much as you loved your daddy and me. We all tell JJ how you knew he was there before Erin did, and how you used to sit on Erin and purr at him. I'm so glad that Erin could be with us when we said goodbye to you, hard as that was for all involved, including Dr. C.

You were one special boy, Skylar, and we cherish your memory and the memories of our time with you. You were so full of life, even at the end when you were so sick. You kept your word, sending us new twins in the form of Freya & Heimdall, who inherited the same respect from the others as you and Lydia had. We see your influence in their lives every day, even though you never actually met them. There's a reason we gave Heimdall your name as his middle name, because his personality matches yours in so many inexplicable ways. He's sleeping on the computer desk as I'm typing this, dreaming away.

Carbon took over your role in the household when you left, and has become just as much the "bouncer" of the family as you were, keeping peace between the others, although always deferential to Rori, who is still our Big Kitty (alpha).

I'm sure you greeted my mom last year and are taking good care of her, along with the other furries she knew in life. That gives me some comfort. I know you're with your beloved sister Lydia, and the others who went to the Bridge.

We miss you so much, dear Skylar, but we're glad to have had the gift of knowing both you and your sister while you lived. Thank you.

Love,

your mommy Karen.