The cat died today. She has not been doing well for quite some time. Earlier this summer, we let her outside (she is a strictly inside cat) for a little while, and she got fleas. They were unusually terrible this year. So we put up a gate in the kitchen door to limit the fleas from spreading throughout the house. It took about 2 months to get rid of the damn things.

Finally, when we let her go out to the rest of the house, we discovered that she had developed kidney problems. She was peeing all over, so she was sequestered back to the kitchen, as linoleum is easier to clean up than rugs.

Over the last couple of days, she was breathing heavily, and sounded as if she had phlegm in her chest. This morning, when I got up, she could barely walk, and kept falling over. I wrapped her in blankets, in an attempt to keep her warm.

This afternoon, I decided to do my taxes. While working on them, I heard her try to cry out, so I picked her up and held her on my lap while I worked. I kept scratching her occasionally, to let her know that I was there, and I heard her purr, faintly. She tried a couple of times hacking up a hairball, but didn’t have the strength to even do that. She smelled as if she were already dead.

Then, she tried hacking again, and laid down on my lap. I scratched her, and she purred. About five minutes later, her rear leg kicked out, and her body went limp. It was about 4:15 PM. She was about 17 years old, as near as we can figure.

It sucks, losing a family member.