MC, Thanks for responding to my post. I absolutely LOVE the P5 nickname. It made me laugh. Too cute.
I am so sorry that Percival was so incredibly ill. I had no idea. Did he have a multitude of conditions? Poor soul. I apologize if I had put you on the spot with the "photo" question. I did not mean to offend. You see, the whole idea of a last picture of your loved one before laying them to rest never occurred to me (and I apologize for the misunderstanding.) However, I have heard of people doing that back in the old days. They called it the "Book of the Dead" I think. Mainly, it consisted of the entire family from generations back. Each family had their own "album" so-to-speak, until finally the tradition died out. Peeper has been the only cat that I have ever seen die. Growing up, my mother simply chose to drop the dying cat off at the vet's office and let them dispose of the body. I absolutely HATED the choice that she made, but I was too little to really be noticed. My opinion never counted for anything. Anyway, when I saw your picture I thought I had done something wrong. I thought that pet guardians today were starting to go back to creating their own "Book of the Dead." I did not know, for no one has informed me otherwise. As previously stated, I am accustom to having the veterinary services take care of our "dead," however; Peeper was MY cat. That changed everything! Since I never had a say-so in the past with the way a terminally ill "pet" was handled, this was the huge and important responsibility that I had been waiting for. Finally, my opinion counted! I almost wish I HAD taken a photo right before I buried him. He was finally at peace and it would be good to have a visual reminder of that. His life had not always been about suffering, there WAS peace. I am just sorry it was at the end of his life rather than at the beginning. Anyway, sorry for the rambling. I understand now that no such albums exist yet or if they do, no one is saying so. Either way, sorry for all of the confusion. Lora P.S. Thanks for clearing up the "eye stain" question. I understand EXACTLY what you meant as soon as I saw the word stain. My friend had a dog that did the same thing. What was it a Poodle? I do not remember. Does anyone know what breed of dog does that? --- TenHouseCats <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: sorry it's taken a couple of days to respond, Lora. i had a major computer disaster--lost all my email, half my other data, etc.... the other reason is that i don't know how to answer. i started to, but realized there is so much emotion surrounding this particular passing for me... the quick answer is that Percival's spirit had moved on when the photo was taken, but his body was lagging a bit behind. i do NOT know why i took the photo, nor do i know why i posted it. i have never done so before. i am a part of a large cyberfamily who knew Percival from when he first came to live with me about 18 months ago. he was in such bad shape when i brought him to Michigan from Texas that we called him P5: Poor, Pitiful, Pathetic, Persian Percival. he came to be one of the most powerful heart-cats I've had in my life, and his final illness was fast, unexpected, and non-responsive to treatment. in the last days of his life, he didn't want to do anything but hide, and was very clear about not wanting any more fluids or force-feeding. he wouldn't let me hold him, tho he snuggled with the other cats. on the final day, he honored me by allowing me to hold him and keep him up on the bed with me. so i think part of the photo was to remind myself of how he spent his last hours, safe and warm and cradled in his mom's blankets. and it's not blood on his nose, just staining from his eyes--he always had major eye problems (had surgery on both of them) and they often teared up and stained his face. he always hated his daily face washings, and i didn't want to make things any more uncomfortable for him--he knew that once he got to the bridge, he'd have a brand-new body to choose anyway... MC --- Lora <cat_crazyfanatic> wrote: MC, I do not mean any disrespect, and I apologize in advance if it seems that way, but is Percival dead in the picture dated 12.27.04? When Peeper passed I never thought about taking a picture of him before I buried him. Does anyone else do this with their loved ones? P.S. If you do not mind my asking, what happened to her nose? There is blood on it. Do Persians tend to bleed out their noses much due to the "mashed in face" appearance? You will have to excuse my ignorance on Persian purebreds, for I have never owned any. Lora --- TenHouseCats <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: Persians are extremely low-maintenance cats in terms of everything but grooming! I've been owned by Persians since 1982. I went five months without one, and couldn't stand to not have their particular sweetness in my life. I STILL think they're funny looking, even after all these years, but adore them. if you go to http://gallery.pethobbyist.com/index.php?cat=584 and type in PHCatByte in the black band where it says search-by-username. You can see many of my darlings. (Just ignore the fact that the captions aren't in English--MeowChat is way too difficult to explain!) MC __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Mail - Helps protect you from nasty viruses. http://promotions.yahoo.com/new_mail
