Gratuitous Domestic Posting (TM)

Sigh. An excellent weekend took an abrupt turn for the worse last evening. As we got home from a party, I noticed that Jeeves the cat was moving very slowly and stiffly, that his breath was shallow and labored and that he was showing symptoms of gastro-intestinal bleeding. We took him off to the vet, who found that his lungs were full of fluid and that his pulse and blood-pressure were dropping off. The vet theorized that it was heart failure, an embolism or possibly a cancer of some sort. In any case, there really wasn't anything we could do so we had to put Jeeves down.

Poor old guy. As much as I complained about him, I'll miss that cat. Unfortunately, such things are part and parcel of pet ownership.

The Llama-ettes seem to be taking it pretty well. We told them this morning what had happened and, after much initial crying, the older ones comforted themselves with the thought that Jeeves was now with his brother Bertie in Heaven and was happy. (Bertie died a number of years ago, before any of the kids were born.) Taking advantage of the calming influence of that thought, we were able to explain that Jeeves had led a long and happy life, that he died peacefully and that these things are just part of Nature's cycle. While the gels are still sad about the business, I believe they understand, too.

Ah, parenthood. "It really has nothing to do with trying to make a child constantly happy. Instead, it has everything to do with helping them learn to deal with what Life throws at them. This morning was just such a lesson.