Supervising activity in the office during a rare moment of Rosey’s inactivity.
I’ve been too devastated to share the news until now. But our darling Rosey (aka “Dumpster Dan”) was euthanized on June 8th. There’s never a good time for these things, but the timing was terrible; it was less than a month after Princess Emma died.
(We changed his name from Dumpster Dan to Rosey last year. The short version of the long story is that we didn’t want to think about him living in a dumpster. Instead, we wanted a name that indicated how sweet his was. Sure, he was also a tough guy. So we thought of him as being named after Rosey Grier. A gentle, sweet, loving, manly-man who was an excellent athlete. That also describes our Rosey Dan for sure!)
We made progress with some of Rosey’s health issues, but one issue kept progressing and got to the point that he was no longer comfortable. We couldn’t make life comfy for him, so although I hated to make the decision, I knew it was best for him to say goodbye. Fortunately, Dr Blair Burggren of Peaceful Transitions came to the house so Rosey could stay in his house until the final moments. It was a difficult passing, but Dr B made it as easy as possible for all involved.
Rosey, the Dandy Man, had a fantastic final year of life in my house. He did his best to establish himself as Ruler of All, dominating all attention all the time. He was the most playful cat I’ve ever met despite the fact that he was geriatric! (Imagine a guy who is part Jack Lalanne and part Richard Simmons. HAHAHAAAA!) I have lots of video footage of us playing and will someday make a video of his antics. Someday. Right now I’m too sad. Even looking at his photo makes me burst into tears. – sniffle - I will definitely miss the way he used to throw his arms around my (or anybody’s) neck and smoosh his face into my (or anybody’s) neck for cuddles. I miss his precious, open-mouthed kisses. I miss his whiny, nasal voice. I miss hearing him suddenly break into playtime in another room – belly-flopping and pouncing on imaginary prey. This guy had a huge, silly personality that filled the house. That made it all the more strange when he was suddenly gone.
Rosey’s nuzzly muzzle
The house seems so quiet and still without Rosey and Emma, my two most gregarious cats. At times I can barely handle the intense grief of losing these two darling beings in such a short span of time. I know that having a hospice for cats without families does invite sad times like this into my life. As painful as it is, I’m grateful to have had the opportunity to invite these wonderful cats into my home to indulge them in as much play, cuddling, sun bathing, and food as possible while they’re with me.
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