tomgpalmer.com » Cats

My Best Friend Is Gone

Tom Palmer — Mon, 09 Aug 2010 02:43:25 +0000

Wolly Palmer on the Computer

This is extremely difficult to write. Wolly (for Wollstonecraft) Palmer, who was my friend, partner, buddy, confidant, and for 14 years teacher in the virtues of patience, toleration, loyalty, and friendship, died last night in my arms. She had developed heart failure, in addition to the kidney failure we had been treating for years, and the combination was too much and advanced very rapidly. I canceled my plans and flew back from Greece and so was able to spend time with her at the end. She knew and recognized me and told me that she loved me, that she knew I was with her and would take care of her, and that I love her. It was important that she know that she was not alone, abandoned, and unloved, but loved, with her buddy, and cherished and adored. Her good friend and caregiver when I was away, Ben Wyche, was there, as well, and was able to say goodbye; she recognized him and told him she loved him, too. (She also had a fine nurse who was conscientious and gentle; Wolly dreaded her daily visits, because it meant a needle stick for an infusion, but she knew that she was helping her.)

Wolly was the anchor of my life and my best friend. The grief is very, very hard to bear and at times overwhelming. I had so much more to learn from her and would gladly have given half of my remaining life so that we could spend it together. Our cat, Tiggy (Antigone) Palmer, is confused and struggling to understand why Wolly is not here. She goes to Wolly’s bed and paws at it and asks where Wolly is. Tiggy is very loving and knows that I am sad and grief stricken and that something is very wrong, and she is trying to console me. (Tiggy was the latest addition to the family and assumed the role of the Forever-Kitten, as Wolly was the Queen and Matriarch of the family. For Wolly, she and I were partners and we had a cat. For Tiggy, we were a family of cats, and she was the baby.)

I am working on an essay on our friendship that I will post later.

Wolly expressing her love by using my forearm as a pillow during a power nap

Wolly on May 22, 2010, with a new possession, which made a good pillow

Wolly (on her heated bed) and Tiggy (next to her favorite scratching perch and toy) getting ready for bed time

Wolly as a Kitten Who Knew She Was -- Is, and Always Will Be -- Loved

An Eventful Feline Evening

Tom Palmer — Sat, 06 Feb 2010 07:23:56 +0000

I noticed that Wolly (short for Wollstonecraft) was a bit droopy, which can be caused by high levels of potassium attendant upon kidney problems (which she has had for some years now), and as I’m heading out of town for a bit, I asked whether I should take her for a checkup. I got advice and decided to do so; it was quite an experience. Besides the trauma of the tests (which she dealt with quite Stoically, despite clearly hating them), getting back was terrible. No taxis (I paid a taxi driver twice the normal rate to drive me there). At all. So I went out with her completely bundled up in her carrier, with extra blankets inside and completely enclosed on the outside, through a serious blizzard to the Metro, which was still working, then found no taxis on the other end, but paid $22 to a carful of El Salvadoran restaurant workers to drive us, jammed in the back, the 8 perilous blocks to our place. Whew. She was glad to be back. (And she’s fine; test results all good, but she may be in a little pain from the infusions she gets daily, so I’m getting something for that.)

Cats Can Be Fierce:

Tom Palmer — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 06:45:25 +0000

HT: Andrew Sullivan

And then there’s this famous photos: Photo in the News: Cat Chases Bear Up Tree

Living with Kittens

Tom Palmer — Sat, 17 Oct 2009 20:10:55 +0000

I have experienced it myself….. (Wolly used to be a fierce hunter, who would track down and kill — much to my relief — mosquitos, which she especially hated. Tiggy is more mouse-oriented.)

Hat Tip: Mike