The Coda

I thought I'd share a little bit about Thompson's last day.

I probably waited too long to let him go but I really wanted to spend the day with him before I said goodbye, and I wasn't able to take Thursday, Friday, or Saturday off from work. He was really weak the last few days, only moving to get a drink of water and he seemed to struggle to drink much.

I also really hoped he and Diego-san would be able to spend some time together on his last day. I respected that they had known each other and lived together longer than they knew or lived with Theo and I. Diego clearly knew something was up because he skipped his nightly combing both Friday and Saturday nights. He rarely ever does that. Usually Sundays are spent with Diego-san (and often Theo) in the basement watching TV, but Thompson had taken his usual spot on the living room sofa so I decided to join him there. Again, this was a disruption of our usual routine and Diego took note. Eventually Thompson got up and went downstairs. So the three of us ended spending his entire last day together. Theo came down and tried cleaning Thompson who didn't respond so unfortunately Theo spent most of the afternoon in the upstairs bedroom.

Thompson tried to nap but he would occasionally move into a different position. He appeared to be having difficulty getting comfortable but he didn't seem to be in any noticeable pain. Half an hour before his appointment I sat down next to him and rubbed his forehead and said my goodbye. He began very softly purring. This is the last photo I took of he and Diego-san together.

It has been a difficult week. The plans all those years ago was adopting multiple cats so the mourning over the loss of one would hopefully be easier. There's a flaw to that plan: both Diego-san and Theo are clearly grieving as well. Theo spent the morning after constantly meowing and wanting to be with me. The past few days it almost seems like he’s wandering into different rooms looking for Thompson. Diego-san has been really mopey, to the point I'm thinking of taking him into the vet to see if there's something other than grieving going on.

Making things even more difficult is the fact that Diego-san and Theo have never bonded on any real level so they are no comfort to each other. I’ve been trying to read each boy, giving them attention when they seemto want attention and space when they just seem to be want to be left alone. I’ve tried to keep our routines as normal as possible. I know we’ll figure this all out, but my heart aches for Theo and Diego-san. I knew Thompson played such a key role in how this house functioned. He was the one we all could reliably turn to. I appreciate him even more than ever.