This year the holidays have had an unfortunate shadow cast on them as, on December 21, we had to put down Jenn’s nine-year-old cat, Semper. She was losing a battle with fatty liver disease and pancreatitis, and there was nothing we could do to save her. It came on very suddenly, especially considering just two weeks before that we had taken her in for a routine check-up and her blood work came back fine. She was a bit overweight (20 pounds!) so we were in the process of transitioning her to a prescription diet food when this happened.

She didn’t do much. She’d sleep most of the day away, rarely venturing out of one of her three or four known “spots” around the house. She didn’t like people much and she was scared of everything. If you were in eyesight, she wouldn’t eat, drink, or go to the bathroom - she’d hide. She liked to destroy anything she could get her gigantic claws into and she’d bite you for no particular reason. She liked tools, particularly the hammer, which she’d roll around on and sleep next to. She was dirty and oily because she had medium-long hair and was too fat to clean herself. She breathed really loud like she had respiratory issues even though she was just fine. Her skin was so pink you could almost see through it, particularly in her ears. We called her “The Tub” because she was so huge.

She was fat, she was mean, and she was a good cat. She left us unexpectedly, and our other cat has been wandering around looking for her friend, a friend that won’t be coming home. She was a total piece of crap and we miss her very much.