In Loving Memory of Finn (March 13, 2009 - July 18, 2010)

Some of you already know via Facebook and Twitter that tragedy struck our house this weekend and our precious Finn was taken from us all too soon and without warning.

Daniel noticed on Friday evening that Finn wasn't feeling well. He couldn't even be persuaded to eat his kitty crack - rare for a cat who would eat nearly everything, from dried mango to raw green beans. The next morning, he didn't seem any better, so Daniel took him to the vet. The vet noticed he had an enlarged heart and started treating him for that. Daniel called me (I was in Dublin) and said the vet didn't think his prognosis looked good (probably a heart problem like HCM). By afternoon, however, he had stabilized and the vet said she'd like to keep him over the weekend and run tests on Monday. We were upset, but hopeful.

As the evening progressed into night, the vet noticed that Finn was taking a turn for the worse. He developed an infection in his stomach and his other organs started to fail. On Sunday morning she called Daniel to tell him that putting him to sleep was the only humane option at that point, and she suspected FIP.

And that's how, in 36 hours, Finn went from being a completely active, healthy cat with no symptoms to a victim of a deadly disease. We'll never understand how something so terrible could happen.

But enough about his untimely death. The purpose of this post is to celebrate his life. I've heard it said that a measure of an animal's life is not quantity but quality, and we did everything in our power to make his quality of life the best it could be.

His whole life was chronicled here every Tuesday. You can relive his public antics via this link. I also wanted to add a few more gems from my huge archive (you can imagine how much I sobbed as I went through them).

Finn was born Dain von Dusterwald. This picture of him at 8 weeks old really shows his spunky personality. One of our favorite stories to tell is one the breeder shared with us. How Finn stole a cookie from her toddler daughter and then defended it with all his might. He was always jumping on our kitchen table too - waiting for an opportunity to run off with our food. Daniel had to guard his morning cereal closely if he didn't want a little tongue lapping up his milk.

Both cats liked to be in the same room with us, and since we both work from home, they spent a lot of time hanging out on Daniel's desk. Finny also spent a lot of time grooming his elegant, fluffy "squirrel" tail.

Finn loved this chair. It was one of his favorite spots to doze. And he always curled up in such amusing positions.

This is our dear Finny hanging with Emmy in their cat palace cubby hole, a very recent photo. Emmy, of course, misses him. While I was going through all my photos, I came across a video of the day we brought him home. In it, he was meowing. And when Emmy heard that, she came running across the room, looking for him.

One of Finn's last photo sessions, less than a week ago. Playing with his "fishing mouse", one of his favorite activities.

The house feels emptier here without Finn. Now that he's gone, we realize how much space he took up. He was always the first to greet us when we came in the door. He jumped on our laps whenever they were free. He scratched our bookcase trying to climb up to get at his toys. He kept Emmy balanced. He made us so very happy. He was a light in our lives. He was so loved.


"how did it go so fast
you'll say
as we are looking
back
and then we'll
understand
we held gold dust
in our
hands"

- Tori Amos GOLD DUST (Which of course she played last night at the concert I attended in Paris. I was a wreck.)

I hope you'll understand that my Tuesday tradition of posting cat pictures will go on hiatus for a while. I probably won't be blogging too much in the next 2 weeks either until Dystopian August. Hopefully that will be able to pick up my spirits (the irony!).