The Sun Is Gone
The world is darker today, as Sun has left it.
One year ago as of yesterday, Sun was brought into BARCS Animal Shelter by a Good Samaritan who found her injured, starving and in pain. She had been stray for two months and had lost over half of her body weight.
The first time I met her at the shelter, she got up from her box and came over to me to say hello, despite her injuries. I fell in love with her instantly.
She needed a wrist repair and I was more than happy to let her recover at our home. This adorable senior girl had on a cast to keep her wrist straightened during the recovery and she was VERY SALTY about it.
Thus began the origin story of Grandma Houdini. She needed rechecks and cast changes fairly regularly under this treatment plan. When taking her in for a recheck one day, the vet tech asks me when her cast was taken off. I was very confused and honestly pretty impressed that she managed to sneak it off while she was in the carrier, as neither of us heard a thing.
She was whisked off to get the cast back on and put in a cone in case she was pulling it off by chewing at it. It turns out that wasn’t at all her technique (I don’t actually know HOW she was doing it) because the next morning I went down to feed her and her cast was just sitting in her playpen by its lonesome.
Back to the vet we went – she was not a fan of having her breakfast routine interrupted. Another day, another cast. This one didn’t even last until the end of the day before she got it off.
That’s when the vets brought out the big guns – a wrap around cast that finally thwarted her Grandma Houdini ways. Don’t worry though – she weaponized it very well. One day we were downstairs and she was sleeping in her playpen after a petting session. Apparently she decided she wasn’t done with pets after all, and ended up using her cast to rip a hole through the playpen to come over to us. Now that’s love.
That’s one of my favorite Sun stories, but there were so many others of this positively singular cat. Who can forget Jake’s absolute obsession with trying to sniff her butt, or Sun’s delightfully creaky mew and wonderful full body purr?
She was always full of opinions and never shied away from sharing them. My room was her territory and she made sure the boys and other fosters knew it. If I was out of the room for too long, she would venture out long enough to find me, scold me and herd me back.
This 14-year old orange tabby girl ruled the roost for the many months that she was in foster with me. She got a feature post on the main BARCS Facebook page, and had a few adopters lined up. Unfortunately, a day later we found out that she was in renal failure.
As one-third of the renal trio of BARCS last year, we had a lot of ups and downs. At one point, she crashed and we were so so scared that that was it – but she fought through it and came back even stronger than before.
Shortly after that, a super senior cat came into the shelter and a post went up on the FB page about that kitty. Not only did that cat get adopted quickly, but one of the people interested in her asked about other kitties in need. It was a whirlwind that day, as the adopter came straight from BARCS to my place and we did the meet and greet in my bedroom, which was quite a mess at the time.
None of that mattered to Sun’s human. She didn’t even mind when Sun decided to show the salty side of her salty sweet personality and start batting at her when I was trying to take happy tail pictures (VERY on-brand).
It didn’t take Sun long to start enjoying her forever home. She was sitting on laps and getting cuddled all the time, and absolutely loving it. She even had another tripod so it was just like it was here. She bonded quickly to her new family and was practically attached at the hip to them. We were very grateful for all the updates they shared, as Sun is incredibly special to me. She reminds me so very much of my late Tripod.
Sun started declining recently due to the renal disease progressing. She was going to have a vet appointment this morning, and I was going to be able to say goodbye, but Sun went out on her own terms. She passed peacefully in her sleep last night, surrounded by so much love and affection.
You will be missed Sun, You are loved and your life mattered. I’m so thankful to have known Sun over this past year and have the opportunity to play a part in her story. Senior cats are truly remarkable and so wonderful to have around. I’ll never forget her or all the things that she taught me. I love you Sun. You are the very best girl. Tripod will be happy to have another salty sweet old lady as company.
