Rest in peace, Zoomie

Tsume, aka Zoomie or Mr. Flufftail was almost 12. He passed away last week Wednesday (the 23rd) in the very early morning at our veterinarian's where he spent his last few days. He was stumbling and listing to one side the previous week Monday, but being the outdoorsy cat he was, when he needed to go out he needed to go out - and you'd hear it loud and clear. I suspected that it wasn't a good thing when he didn't show up for breakfast that Tuesday morning, but he came home briefly in the afternoon when I went to check, only to disappear again. When he didn't come home the next few days we didn't expect to see him again, but there he was in the walkway, finally on Saturday. I called the vet and took him there, and was told right away that this wasn't a case of Pedialyte with a syringe, he needed IV fluids, and antibiotics for his ear infection, the only thing they found wrong with him, and which of course had caused his stumbling and listing to one side, so we left him there for the weekend. We were updated twice on Monday and he appeared to be getting better, but relapsed Tuesday. I went to see him as soon as I could get a break from work and saw him deteriorate during the hour I was there. Norman went a little bit later and told me he had deteriorated more. We decided that night that we were going to take him home Wednesday so that he could pass away in his normal surroundings with his normal humans and co-cats but he didn't live that long. Dr. Alan called early Wednesday morning to let us know that Tsume had passed away. Thank you Dr. Alan and staff for all you did!

It took until now until I was able to write this down. I was the one who found Tsume, in the bushes on the corner by the Sack&Save parking lot Downtown, when he was a tiny kitten, almost 12 years ago, when his body wasn't much bigger around than his tail.