I can’t say it was totally unexpected, but… well… not today!

Earlier today, I got this adorable photo.

Question has squeezed herself in between her adopted siblings and promptly had a nap.

She’s been napping a lot lately.

I then went and got to work on a bunch of things before returning to my room, expecting to get some work done on the computer.

I’ll be honest; when I saw Question lying on the bed, I thought she was already gone! But then she moved in a silent meow.

Clearly, she wasn’t going to be with us long, so I wrapped her up in a towel, sat on the side of my bed and held her. I managed to tap out a message to the family on my phone to let them know. My younger daughter came and joined me.

We pet her and tried to make her as comfortable as possible. Her eyes wouldn’t close all the way, so we kept them moist with eye drops. When she seemed dehydrated, my daughter dipped water into her mouth, one drop at a time. For a while, she actually seemed to be more mobile, so I put her in my daughters arms so I could go find something to give her fluids more easily but when I came back, she was gone.

My daughter was crying, but I think she was glad to have been able to give Question comfort, right to the end.

Her sister and I buried Question in the little flower garden, next to the bird bath. From now on, she will be surrounded by lush growth and flowers.

I had messaged with the Cat Lady last night about Question and Ghosty. They were supposed to take both when they got back from the US, only to return to a very sick cat of their own. She wanted to give him another week of monitoring before introducing two new kittens to the household (there are no available fosters, and all the rescues have zero intakes for cats right now). Especially with one of them being pretty sick.

After a while, I messaged her again to let her know about Question. The Cat Lady turned out to be at the vet clinic we normally go to – which is not at all close to their place! Another of her cats was blocked and undergoing surgery at the time! Which likely meant she called a number of vets before finding one that could take her cat in right away. She just had a blocked cat that got surgery, and now his sibling is going through the same thing!

She just can’t seem to catch a break!

In a way, I’m glad they didn’t take the kittens. If they had, she would have pulled all stops to keep the kitten alive, and there are times when I just don’t think that’s actually a good thing. Sometimes, I think letting them go is the kinder thing. Which is what I think was the case with Question.

I’m going to miss waking up to that little fur ball tucked up against my neck.

The Re-Farmer