My Calliope

I got my cat, Calliope when she was 6 weeks old. She was a feisty little stink but not much larger than the palm of my hand. We would laugh because she hissed at everybody near her, but it looked more like one of those little fuzzy things on the end of a pencil with a mouth...heehee. Does anyone remember those fuzzy things? Anyway, nobody seemed to think she would ever be tamed, but I proved them wrong. She became one of the sweetest, quietest cats I've ever known. She still gave dirty looks to some and hissed when she felt threatened, but she had a very sweet temperament. She decided I was her person...until Wilson came along. :) She loved him more than I ever thought she'd love a person, besides me. Actually, that is how I knew he was "the one". She didn't like any man I dated. This was a sign! So, we had become a family. She didn't really like the dogs, but she learned to live with them. I don't think they ever wanted to hurt her or anything, but they were extremely curious. They enjoyed stalking her until she started sticking up for herself and beating them up...which was really funny, since she didn't have front claws. hehe

She had dental problems her entire life. When she was spayed and declawed, she became infected. She was allergic to fleas. Christmas, 2003, I took her to the emergency room for a skin infection. Yes, she had some problems but she always made it through. Last week Will and I started noticing how skinny she was. We didn't think much of it until we realized she hadn't been eating or drinking much. We took her to the vet last Saturday for a check-up and some blood tests to figure out what was wrong. The results were that she was anemic and had kidney disease and was extremely dehydrated. It couldn't be cured but could be treated. The vet wanted to see her again, so we took her in this morning. The x-ray showed fluid in her lungs and it wasn't only kidney disease. She had cancer throughout her body. The vet told us the best thing for us to do would be for us to have her put to sleep. I didn't want that and asked if there is anything else we could do. There really wasn't...she was in pain. So, this morning around 10:00am, our sweet little Calliope was put to sleep. She was such a huge part of our lives and so many people loved her. I watched the shot put her to sleep. I wanted to be the last person she saw and heard. My last words to her were, "I love you so much, my little Liope". I hope she knows how much...

R.I.P. my little Calliope