Well everybody, I'm sorry I haven't posted much 
of anything lately.  Life's been pretty dull and 
busy, working towards graduation in June...  But 
anyway, I came home from school last night, 
Thursday since I have no classes on Friday.  
We've got 5 cats (I've always been crazy for 
cats!), and when I went to visit them that 
night, 2-3 of them wanted outside.  Now, the 
oldest one of the bunch was 15, Skippy.  He 
wanted out, so I let him out, but he never came 
back.  I kept calling for him all that night, 
but he never showed up.  I had to get up early 
the next morning to go to an eye doctor's 
appointment, and when I came back around noon, I 
was getting really worried.  I looked all over 
for him, all around outside and everything.  I 
finally found him semi-hidden in a box in the 
corner of our garage.  He looked horrible.  It 
was so unlike him NOT to want to come in, 
especially with Michigan winter as cold as it 
has been recently.  He wouldn't get up out of 
the box, so I had to carry him inside.  I knew 
something was wrong the night before when he 
didn't come in on his own, but I didn't think he 
would have gotten as bad as he did later in the 
day.  I could tell he was hungry and thirsty, 
but every time he tried to eat or drink, he'd 
stop, like he *couldn't* eat or drink for some 
reason.  I was trying to tell my mom that he was 
looking downward every time I'd check on him, 
but she didn't really know how bad he was 
getting until she went down and saw him.  He 
eventually just sat in the corner with his head 
down on his front paws.  He looked so sad.  We 
called the vet to see him-- was an emergancy 
call since it was past their hours... but he 
said that Skip might be able to live for a while 
yet, but not for long.  Since he wasn't eating 
or drinking anything, he could hardly walk on 
his own, and the vet said that his kidneys 
already started to shut down...there really 
wasn't anything more to be done for him.  I 
thought it would be even more cruel to let him 
life and slowly waste away like he was.  I don't 
know if he was in any pain, but he could have 
been.  That's the least thing I want for any of 
my babies, to suffer needlessly if there is no 
chance for them to live longer.  He was put down 
at 10:00pm.  I wasn't as close to Skip as I am 
with Monie, who's taken over the "King" spot in 
the kitty rank in our house now, but I can't 
believe how increditably painful this is to go 
through.  I just feel like something is missing, 
and I can tell that the other cats know that 
he's gone.  They don't understand it, but they 
know...  

So...anyway, I'm sorry for the drag on... I'm 
just trying to get overly tired so that I can 
sleep.  I love having pets and being close to 
them, but I could never immagine how hard this 
is to deal with.  Monie is the oldest kitty in 
our family now...and I really don't think I 
could bear losing him.  Ahh, I gotta stop before 
I lose it again.....

And yeah, this post does come with a cel related 
aspect to it.  It's the best cel that I have 
that really shows how I feel.  =P

Take care everybody.
Rekka