ACTIVITIES FOR 7 MONTH OLD BABY

Ty was my first pet of my very own. I got her in 1989 when she was nine weeks old. My brother rescued her and her sisters when they were two weeks old and due to be put down. When they were old enough to go back to the shelter to be adopted, he took them there, but on the way, he stopped by my office to see if I wanted a cat. I said, "No, I don't want a cat!" So, he said, "Well, at least look at them." and of course I came home with a cat.

Ty came home and began her life with me in my little one bedroom Post apartment. She loved to run around the place and chase things that she imagined. She pounced at shadows on the floor and swatted at lights as they moved across the walls. At night she wanted to sleep on top of my head. She used to lie in the sink and drink out of the running faucet. She loved to sit on the balcony of my apartment and look out over the rest of the complex.

Simba came along four years ago. Ty wasn't any more thrilled with Simba than she was with Scout when she came in 1995. Ty would walk by Simba, stop and glare at her, hiss and move on. Simba backed up. Slowly. She knew who the Alpha in this family was.

As Ty got older, she began to wear out and in the end, it was her kidneys that finally failed her. They basically went overnight. When I got up Friday morning to look in on her, she was lying on the floor, so I rushed her on to the vet. When I got there, she was hurried to the back where she was given oxygen and several warm blankets. Her temperature was too low to register on the thermometer and she barely had any blood pressure at all. After reviewing her chart, they knew it was the kidneys and suggested that I help her along to the next world. Having just been through this a few months ago with Scout, I knew the deal so they took her into a room to let me spend a few final minutes with my baby girl. And then it was over. I cried all the way home.

My parents came down immediately and we buried her in a nice wooden box that my dad built. My mom padded it and lined it with white satin and made her a little white satin sheet to cover her up. I made a collage of her photos and put the Rainbow Bridge story in so she would know where she was going. Simba cried and licked Ty on the head. We closed the box and buried her in the backyard next to her sister, Scout.

Ty was a great pet for nearly two decades. She has been with me my entire adult life, lived everywhere I ever paid rent or a mortgage, ridden in every car I have ever owned. She is my longest relationship and was a true companion through everything I ever went through. She reigned over all the other animals (and people) who have ever entered my household like the queen that she was. She had a good long life and I know it was well lived. She was loved as much as any cat could be and she always had everything she ever needed and wanted. She was a trouper up until the very end. She went through all nine of her lives and about four of Scout's. Rest in peace sweet Ty. I will miss you deeply and profoundly, but I will see you again one day. I'm sure of it.