I am sad to announce that after some 12 years of craziness, Turq’s wild run is likely to come to an end this week. He’s had feline leukemia for nearly 3 years, and when he was diagnosed they only gave him a few weeks to live, yet here he still is. The leukemia, plus surviving being hit by a car a number of years ago (which included getting disoriented and lost and living rough for almost a month with a badly broken jaw before we were reunited), suggests that he’s used up all his nine lives and a few of Portia’s.
It’s all catching up with him, though, and things have deteriorated to the point where we all agree that the time has come to put him to sleep, probably this week.
Sniff.
Turq was born almost the same time as Sub-Evil Boy and they’ve spent pretty much their entire lives together. (We’ve got some amazingly cute pictures of them together as baby and kitten.) It’ll be interesting see how Portia (who’s 2 years older than Turq) reacts to his absence. She’s been doing this weird stress thing where she sits and pulls out clumps of her hair and we don’t know why. Having this happen, as well as the chaos engendered by the bathroom remodelling (more on that later), may really freak her out. Hopefully not, though…
In these last few years of his life there have been more than a few times where he’s been, well, pretty gross (chronic sinus infection and less than optimal personal hygiene), but he was always an amazing character in the best sense and our lives are all much richer for knowing him.
We’re probably going to scatter his ashes in the yard where he spent many happy days lording over his domain. Sub-Evil is planning on inviting some friends over and we’ll make a proper ceremony of it. So raise a toast to our strange little friend.
Oh, I’m so sorry to read this. It’s not really a shock but it will be sad to know he’s gone. He really is the most amazing character of a cat, and LDH will be upset when Turq is no longer with us. I hope Portia takes it well, and give my condolences to Sub-Evil Boy and Weather Girl.
(Oh, and by the way: You SUCK!)
LOL!
Thanks for the kind thoughts :-). We’ve thought of you and LDH (and Scott) quite a few times as we’ve discussed this decision given the generous role you all played in his life at different times. Wish you could join us for the ceremony.
Best wishes to you and your furry friends, and thanks for your time with him!
We started demolition on the upstairs bathroom a few days ago (I’ll try to write something tomorrow) and should have two spiffy new bathrooms by sometime this summer. It’ll be a big change.
We wish we could join you too!
And the bathroom demolition – wow! How exciting – and how amazing to think that the bathrooms were added as late as 1955! (If I may be blunt, I don’t think they did the most spectacular job – I’m sure the new ones will be a welcome improvement!)
It is amazing to think that they waited that long for indoor plumbing. My mom says that my great-grandfather choose to use the outhouse at the farm in Wisconsin up to the end (the 1950’s for him) even though they had indoor plumbing in the house decades earlier.
And I totally agree that the original bathrooms (and their subsequent half-hearted rennovations by us and others) were never stellar. We’re pretty pumped about getting two very nice bathrooms out of this process.
And then (probably after sabbatical) the kitchen…
I am sad, too, as New Kid knew I would be, to learn of Turq’s impending end. What a truly extraordinary run he’s had over his dozen years! Who has more been a cat than he? We’ve often thought that our beloved Middle Cat dreams of her coming afterlife in Valhalla. And, likewise, that she dreds that Youngest Cat, her nemesis, will be there, too, doubtless raising a ruckus at the kid’s table, and asking where the line forms for the buffet. But Turq’s had a timeshare condo near Valhalla for years and years, and it’s a good thing that he’ll finally get to use it. And, doubtless, a fine place at the table will have been set for him when he arrives …
That was really beautiful… sniff…
I love imagining him as young and fit again, without the wonky eye and the skin-and-bones frame of his later years. (Although he was a scrapper to the end, and gave the vet a run for his money.) I suspect his place at the table is nestled in some garden undergrowth waiting for that slow, stupid squirrel to come a little too close :-).
You two were a wonderful gift in the lives of both of our cats and we, and they, greatly appreciate it. Even if you suck…