Love, Loss, and a new meow

They say memories are golden
well maybe that is true.
I never wanted memories,
I only wanted you.

A million times I needed you,
a million times I cried.
If love alone could have saved you
you never would have died.

In life I loved you dearly,
In death I love you still.
In my heart you hold a place
no one could ever fill.

If tears could build a stairway
and heartache make a lane,
I'd walk the path to heaven
and bring you back again.

Our family chain is broken,
and nothing seems the same.
But as we're called one by one,
the chain will link again.

 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Our sweet TSK made his journey OTRB  on the afternoon of

December 13, 2016

He had gone in for dental xrays and possible tooth extraction.

I dropped him off at the vet in the morning, after cuddling with him in the car for a bit as we were a little early. I have still not washed the jeans and shirt I was wearing that day.

I received a call from the vet around noon stating that he did have to have 2 teeth pulled and that everything went well, that we could pick him up at 3 that afternoon.

A short time later the vet called again saying they were having trouble waking him up.

That they were agitating him to get him to start waking. That the drugs used on him were the same as he had 18 months prior when he had 7 teeth pulled. They would keep me posted and someone was with him constantly. I offered to go down there to see if I could help wake him, but the offer was declined. The next call from the vet was that they were messing with his ears and it seemed that he was trying to respond. She was encouraged by this. She would keep us posted. Sadly, the last call was a few minutes later. He had arrested, they did CPR, but he didn't respond. He was gone. The vet thinks that he had a heart issue we didn't know about or perhaps threw a clot.

This was the worst day of our lives. We were in shock. How could this have happened?

We went to the vet hospital to say our last goodbyes to our sweet boy. We took Daffy with us so she would know.

Our little family had been torn asunder. Our home was now very sad. For such a little kitty, TSK had a huge presence, always wanting to be involved in everything we were doing. It was him, not Daffy, that met us at the door when we came home. We will love him and miss him forever.

A huge thank you to our friends, family, and neighbors for your sympathy and support.

We have received so many sympathy cards, from all over the world, and special gifts from friends. A tree was even planted in his memory! It helps in our sorrow to know just how loved our sweet TSK was, and is.

So many of you made donations in TSK's memory to the Bend Spay + Neuter Project where I volunteer. The total was a very large amount and we can't thank you enough.

TSK photos

A Message From The Bridge by Ingrid Trinka (Daffy's mom)

 

Now I would like to introduce you to Mitzi.

 

We didn't think we would be ready for another kitty just yet.

But Daffy was missing her playmate. Daffy doesn't know how to play with other dogs, but she would play with TSK. TSK was the only one she played with. She had been napping in the spots TSK would lately.... We knew she was missing her BFF.

So when my friend Vikki, and fellow BSNP volunteer, offered us Mitzi, feral kitten she had socialized, we gave it some thought. 

Mitzi was trapped by Kim, a feral/community cat trapper for BSNP.
She was trapped in LaPine in November while Kim was doing her colony for the COCA day.  She brought in about 20 adults and 8 kittens, some 8ish weeks old and some 6ish weeks old.  But there were two adults she didn't catch. So she took a drop trap back that afternoon to try to catch them.  When she got back, Mitzi was running around. Kim threw down a typical trap, & Mitzi ran right in. (She was about 8 weeks old then) Kim never did catch the other adults.

Kim also socializes feral kittens that have a good chance to be adopted at the local Humane Society shelters. Vikki had been wanting to try her hand at socializing as well. So Mitzi (later named Mitzi by Vikki) went to Vikki's house. Vikki had a large crate set up and over about a month and a half Mitzi went from being a scared wild kitty to a sweet purring kitten that you could now pet and play with. 

Vikki did such a great job with her, I hope she will continue to do more kittens.

When the time came for Vikki to take Mitzi to the shelter she just couldn't do it. She didn't want her to be raised by a stranger... She thought maybe Mitzi could help us not be so sad, that we would be able to give her the loving home she was hoping for her.

So we brought Mitzi home. Crate and all.

She has done surprisingly well! She has become more and more comfortable here in the few days she has been here. She and Daffy are very interested in each other. I think they will end up being great pals. She is using the big litter box and the feeding station we had to create to keep Daffy from the cat food. She is having great fun running through the house, tail held high, exploring her new surroundings. 

It's been quite a while since I had a kitten, she is about 3 months old now, and she is very entertaining. She has brought some smiles to us, has helped with the sadness the 3 of us have. She has the sweetest little girly meow. She was probably born in October, TSKs birthday month as well.

Thank you Kim and Vikki for giving us this sweet girl.

No one will ever replace our beloved TSK, our heart cat, but there is room in our hearts for this precious little kitten.

Mitzi Photo Album 

(the first few pix are from when she was with Vikki)

💗 🐾 🐱