Lessa

The past few months I have noticed that my Lessa Houdini Aircat, aka Mouwess, has been changing.  She has lost maybe 1/2 pound, but she isn't caring for her fur as well as she has in the past.  She isn't eating as much, either, which would help account for the weight loss.  I've noticed that she isn't eating her morning treat that Kent gives her like she used to. It may sit there on top of the freezer all day long (it is dry food, so no big deal).  She has started licking her fur off her belly and legs again, after stopping the OCD behavior for over a year.  Ptera Dactyl has been a part of the house for 2 years, and if Ptera is the chief cause, I would have thought it would have started when Ptera was first brought in to the house.  And Lessa doesn't seem to be able to get comfortable very easily.  Yesterday evening she wouldn't settle down; she was up and down and all around, including walking all over my legs, which were hurting anyway.  Poor girl was yelled at several times and kneed off the chair several more.  This behavior kept on even after Kent went to bed and I tried to settle in to sleep.  It was nearly 5  AM before she actually completely settled in next to me in the chair.

 However, her activity level outside does seem to be on the increase.  Yesterday I watched her dance across the backyard chasing a white cabbage moth.  She doesn't chase it with the same intensity as does Ptera Dactyl, but for Lessa, it was very active!!! She mostly loped after it, but there were a few leaps in to the air.  I am so grateful that I was able to witness this cavort!  I certainly hope it will not be the last one I observe.

She was leaving the backyard illegally nearly every day, but in the past few weeks
she has been staying in the backyard more often.  Of course, then today she left the yard twice. 

It is possible that Lessa has developed diabetes, just like Muffin.  Kent and I have agreed that we will not give her shots.  She'll be left with some dignity, unlike Muffin, if this turns out to be the case.  It would shorten her life, but the betrayal to her at age 12 would be worse. 

The idea of losing Lessa terrifies me.  She is a direct link to Smudge, and once she is gone, we will have truly lost all of him.  Sure, Yeowller was rescued shortly after we brought Smudge and Lessa in to the house, but Lessa IS the reason that Smudge entered our life.  I wanted to make sure that she wasn't put to sleep because she was such an ugly kitten, and the intervening time between when I first saw her and we went back for her she was changing.  The Ugly Duckling turned in to a Graceful Swan in those couple of months.  She had the most beautiful pink nose, that eventually developed dark spots on the outside edges of.  We lovingly called her Little Pink Rat Nose when it was all pink.  Smudge was still alive when her nose began to change, and it continued to get darker year after year.  Oh, the pink is still there, but not as bright pink and definitely not all over pink. 

Lessa has always disliked loud noises and has loudly scolded us when our voices are raised, and sometimes when they are not raised...  She has an obnoxious scolding voice, let me tell you!  She always gets up from wherever she is and strides purposely towards whichever one of us is talking the loudest, and then starts in on us. 

She used to love riding in the car, but she lost that love several years ago.  Oh, she goes through the motions of wanting to go, but she won't come in to our arms to be carried out to the vehicle.  She wants to go outside, out front, which is Forbidden Territory to her.  It was always a treat to her to get to walk from the car to the house when she went for rides with us.   I know she didn't like riding in Kent's truck, nor mine, but she quit riding in the car before we lost it in 2010.

I tears me up inside contemplating losing Lessa.  The last cat we lost was Macha, 4 years ago.  But Lessa, like I said, is a direct link to our best beloved Smudge, because we decided to bring him home with her, for company, never knowing that he would completely take over our hearts in just a couple days.

But I hope that I am wrong, and that Lessa has many more years of life left in her.  Maybe she has arthritis, which would account for a less active life.  If it is worse, then we keep her comfortable until she has no quality of life, and then release her from her earthly form, to go roam with Smudge as they wait for us with the others who have gone before us.