vovat | In Memoriam: Reagan, 2006-2023 (Reply)

Our cat Reagan died this evening. She's been with us a long time, and it's going to be so weird not having her around. Beth adopted her in January 2007 (on my parents' anniversary, actually, although they were no longer married at that point), and I wasn't living with her at the time, but I still visited a lot. Her other cat, Wally, was reaching under the door and meowing when she was isolated in a room. He always seemed attached to her, but she usually ignored him except when they were fighting. Soon after that, when she had her leg shaved for a needle at the vet, Beth decided that, together with her feisty attitude, she was a punk rock girl. We never tested it to see if that was really the kind of music she preferred, but it fit. She had a thick undercoat and shed a lot, and her tail bent in ways I don't see from most cats. It also seemed like she didn't have as much feeling in her tail, as you could play with it and she wouldn't care. She hated being picked up, though. There was a white patch below her chin, which we called her pretty spot (even though she was pretty all over). She was very vocal, often loudly meowing for attention, and purring noisily as well. She really took a liking to Beth's Uncle John, but later on she got really attached to me, getting excited when I was around. That might have been because I was the one who usually bought food, but I'll take it. Between that and her nagging me a lot, Beth told me Rea was my other wife. It seemed like she had more respect for me than for Beth, as she frequently walked over Beth's body, and rarely did the same with mine. But who really knows what she was thinking? She loved people food, and sometimes tried to steal it. It's not surprising that she liked chicken and cream cheese (not together), but she'd also eat muffin crumbs. That said, she could also be very picky, sometimes rejecting foods we thought she'd like, and only eating dry food when there was no other option. She developed some health problems as she got older, kidney issues and a dust allergy. A few months ago, high blood pressure made her retinas detach, and while the ophthalmologist we saw said there was a chance they could reattach, they never did. After that, she had trouble getting around the apartment, and often seemed confused about where she was. While she still enjoyed attention, she no longer jumped up on furniture or came to see us, instead spending most of her time in a bed on the floor. And she was on so much medicine that she resented taking, including subcutaneous fluids. Yesterday, she had an appointment with the eye doctor on the Upper East Side, so we drove her up there, and the doctor told us we needed to take her to an emergency room. She was dehydrated, had low blood pressure, and wasn't able to stand up. So we took her to our regular vet, who is in our neighborhood. After keeping her overnight, he said there was nothing he could do for her, so we had her euthanized. This is the first time either of us had gone through that; all of our other pets had died naturally. It was incredibly sad, but I'm glad we could be there with her for her last moments. We knew she probably wasn't going to last much longer, but it was still quite sudden. I'm not sure what Wally thinks of her no longer being around. He's seemed a bit off since we brought her to the vet for the last time, but he's twenty years old and it's hot and humid, so I don't know whether that's the reason why. I don't think he's used to being an only cat, however. Even before Beth adopted him, he was in a cage with two other cats, presumably his sisters. But I know we all loved her very much.