A Journey - Selina Carter, April 9, 2011 - March 6, 2024

Dearest Furrends:

My scribe is typing this entry with a truly heavy heart. Yesterday, I made my journey to The Rainbow Bridge.

My doctor, Dr. Daniel, told me in November 2023 that I had something called a "mass" that she could feel when she did something she called "palpating" my underside during my annual well-kitty exam. It didn't hurt - it just felt like she was squeezing me a little.

She told Mom&DadKatt, who were there with me (of course) and suggested several options. They decided to start giving me a medicine called prednisone (I called it YUCK). Dr. D said it would really boost my appetite. Boy, did it!

See, MomKatt noticed I'd lost a fair amount of weight in a couple of months prior and she knew something was wrong. I've always been a big (not fat, just big) beautiful one-eyed thang, as y'all know, so this wasn't normal. It's that MomKatt radar - I know all of y'alls pawrents have it. That's why she scooped me up that day to go to see Dr. D, who sent away some tests and it was confirmed that I had cancer and I wasn't going to get any better.

I always did have a nice profile.

 

That medicine was gross - OH, was it gross! - but it bought me four months of life that I wouldn't have had with my scribe and my DadKatt. I was eating like a piggy kitty! Not just my food, either: I was stealing EVERY kitty's Fancy Feast! A lady named Martha that MomKatt knew from Catster was so kind - she got me hooked on what I call "Licky Sticks" but which are really called "Churu". I got one whenever I wanted one, too. (My sisfur, Nutmeg, is hooked as well, so I've bequeathed her the remaining tub of them.) Miss Martha also sent a new kitty bed and lots of other goodies for me. Wasn't that kind of her? (I bequeathed the bed (it's a "warming bed") to my sisfur, Rachel, who actually stole it from me but that was because I couldn't jump up into the chair, so I didn't mind.)

Summer's MomKatt, Miss Janice, had sent a package to me a couple of years back and I'd adopted the "Happy Kitty" heart you see in this pic, and I groomed it religiously and took good care of it. I have been a happy kitty! MomKatt is keeping it on her desk now.

It used to have catnip but I groomed it so much it didn't have nip anymore. It was my security blanket.

Another furrend of MomKatt's Miss Cathy, sent two bags of litter and some food! See, MomKatt was unexpectedly laid off from her job in Oct., and there was very little money, since DadKatt isn't working, either. (The good news is she has a job now!) So the kindness of furriends where we didn't even expect it was most appreciated.

So, I was going along pretty well until about the last 2 weeks or so. I began to eat a little less; I used to jump on the windowsill then leap to the kitchen sink counter for my breakfast and dinner but I started to not feel good enough to do so. I gradually stopped getting up on the sofa for MomKatt's lap. I wanted to so badly, but I just couldn't.

So she and DadKatt talked about it a couple of days ago and I suddenly stopped having to take that awful YUCK. (YAY!) It wasn't working anymore. By this past weekend, I was hardly eating anything. I just didn't want it. So it was decided that I was telling them it was time to go. I was - and I'm lucky that I have two pawrents that can read what I feel - what all of their kitties feel - and made the decision that was best for me.

So, yesterday afternoon, I saw Dr. D for the last time. MomKatt held me and told me to imagine that I was sailing on a BIG clipper ship, in full sail, with pink and black (my favorite colors) ribbons streaming in the wind towards the Bridge. She said everyone was there, waiting for me and waving their paws - Morticia, Peppers, Sharif, Livia, Feisal, Kukla, Sasha, Boudicca, Livia, Torrie and Ray were at the front of the crowd! Plus all my furrends from Catster. I was so excited, but I had to wait for my luggage (Pink Bed!) to be taken off the ship. Then, MomKatt told me, that I had to go through something called "customs" after which I'd finally be able to disembark.

So I went with it, and as I listened to her, her voice was gradually fading but I could still hear it. It was beautiful. When Dr. D. came to give me my last shot, MomKatt whispered, "Here's the customs lady and you've passed through. Cross over, sweetheart, and tell everyone we love them." 

And I sailed through customs and crossed over.

DadKatt said today, when MomKatt told him about her story, that she should write it down. She said she had just been making it up as she went along, telling me a story before bedtime like her mother used to do for her when she was little. I want her to write it all down, too, and make it a full story. She's decided she's going to do it and put it here when it's finished.

Here are some last pictures of me. I shall miss you all and I can't tell you how much we've appreciated your support of my blog, and how sorry I am that I haven't been around much the last few years. But regrets don't serve anyone and I (and MomKatt) are grateful that this blog has brought so many wonderful peeps into our lives that we would not have met, had I not been adopted by Mom&DadKatt.

Farewell, my furrends. I know I shall see you all again but I hope it's not too soon. I love you all.

Purrz ....

Selina, From The Rainbow Bridge

DadKatt took a nice picture of me. See my expression? I'm already dreaming of The Bridge.

MomKatt wanted one last pic with me.

BLEP!!!!!

PS:  As you can see, I gave MomKatt a parting blep! I'm sorry it made her cry, but I just HAD to. :)

PPS: See what my furrends Ingrid and Angels Pipo, Minko and MJF Dal;ton & Benji made for me? It was so sweet of them to do this!