a new post

So, you may have noticed I haven't posted in a while. Mostly this is because I have been trying to figure out how to post about everything that has happened to us in the last week and a half.

The last info I posted on Tiger's progress was that he was diagnosed with an aggresive, malignant tumour in his nasal cavities. He stopped eating the night I made that post - mostly, we believe, because he couldn't smell his food anymore (for those who don't know, cat's won't eat if they can't smell their food - which is why cat food is so fragrant). We called the vet on Saturday and he recommended we have a feeding tube inserted. We did that (after much discussion) and for a week we had him at home and fed him six times a day through the tube. After a week, he started showing signs of being in pain and still refused to eat.

On Saturday October 7th, we made the incredibly painful decision to put Tiger to sleep. As much we didn't want to lose him, we had to admit that his quality of life was terrible and we loved him too much to put him through any more. On Sunday, we did one of the most painful things we've ever done and brought Tiger in and said good-bye to him. Bill Ignacio, the veterinarian who helped us through this stage of it, was amazing. He was very supportive and patient with us. We were very emotional and he allowed us all the time we needed with Tiger, both before and after.

So, we've been coping through losing a member of our family.

On the following Friday night, we had arranged to go out for dinner with a couple who just moved to the city from the UK. We were introduced through a rather tenuous connection that involves my mum, one of her close friends and the fellow's mum. Anyway, back to events... this was the first time we had been out with friends for a number of weeks due to the health of our cats, renovations and work schedules. We came home from a wonderful dinner to find our apartment had been robbed. All the lights were on, a window had been smashed and the balcony door was open. We quickly assessed that our two cats were still in the apartment (thank goodness). Of course, we realized this because they were fighting each other to the death. We had to quickly seperate them, as Rascal's face was all scratched up. We also discovered later that Arthur's left paw has been hurt - he has been limping for the last 6 days and we will probably have to take him into the vet to find out what is wrong. [Update: it's not getting any better so he is going in tomorrow.]

I don't want to go into all the details of the robbery here, but suffice it to say that we lost enough for it to be painful. Most items we can replace, but I lost a lot of family jewellery that I will never be able to replace and I'm just sick about losing. I don't have a lot of connections to my family (esp. the older generations of my father's side, as I never really got to know my grandparents) and those items felt like they provided a connection. Also, they took Claude's birthday present to me this year - damn them to hell. They also took our security and trust and some of my love for this city.

I could go on here about what kind of people do this, etc, etc. but really I am just really tired. It hasn't been a great year and I don't feel prepared to deal with anything right now. I would really like to go to bed and stay there - for days. Unfortunately, can't do that. Meeting the insurance man tomorrow morning; taking Arthur into the vet tomorrow; trying to finish our renos and just generally move on.

Anyway, that is my update. I'm sure I'll sound much more positive in future posts.
bye

Update: I just want to add a note of thanks to all of our close friends who have rallied around us. All of you are amazing - we are so lucky to have friends who are so caring. Events like this really make you put things in perspective and realize what is important in life.