Life goes on

 

This is a drawing I did of my furbaby Pounce. (digital done using Lascaux on 2draw.net) He came to us after the loss of my youngest son who passed of Trisomy 18. My mom had a batch of kittens that she brought down and he was one of them. He was supposed to be my husbands cat but I wound up bonding with him. Later when we had our last child (my youngest daughter) they grew side by side. I was nursing her and instead of using one of those boppy pillows I used a body pillow and he'd lay beside her sleeping while she nursed. It seemed he was always as long as she was tall. When they started getting big enough that not both could lay on the pillow they'd somewhat bicker over the space :)  He always would come comfort me through some of the toughest times I went through. Which in the last few years there have been many and most of them were over the top rough for me. I went through a lot of loss and a lot of stress even going through another TIA (mini stroke) during this. He was always there. He was like a big teddy bear and I could just wrap my arms around him. He was very protective of me and would put a paw on my husbands hand if he was trying to rub my back or something and give him a look and meow at him like hey this is mine LOL. It was sort of a silly game thing in a way. I'd take him in with me for naps and he'd perch himself on my stomach or legs and watch me sleep. We considered him as much a family member as everyone else. Before he passed he weighed in at a little over 30lbs and was about 4ft long (tail included) He was a big boy. He had a soft spot for the kittens and would even let them nurse on his fur and he'd bathe them and play with them. He never used his claws though a gentle setting his teeth on you was enough to say you'd pushed his patience too far. He was a very gentle boy. I feel an empty spot where he was in my life and I still look for him though I know he isn't here. He is greatly missed. I was always was able to fix him up when he was injured but not this time. It turns out bladder blockages are common in males especially neutered ones and can take them pretty quickly. I had one other male cat who had this same problem when I was a kid. He was about 16yrs old (Pounce was still a young cat at about 4) but it is something to raise awareness of.  We planted a rose bush in his honor and put our sons stepping stones around it for like a memorial area. 

On other notes I have one family member who can now be deemed a cancer survivor (I can't say any more than that but I am so very glad to still have them around) I have a grandbaby on the way any time now and we are working on some improvements around our home. I plan on working on a project or so for the county fair later in the fall and we are working on container gardening which is actually going pretty well right now. We plan to rebuild our front porch and some other projects but of course as always our lives stay hectic.