Merly on Monday

I think it's telling that I am often unsure how to spell this cat's name. It was named by my husband's sister. It has something to do with the wizard Merlin, and I think it was originally Merlyn, but got shortened to Merly. His family often has issues with pet names. They evolve and change. He tends to call all the male cats "Buddy" anyway.

The surgery has been postponed for now. They found fluid in her stomach they tapped to run more tests, but the third vet to look at her suspects several masses in her intestines. I'm thinking there is also some bad reason she tilts her head all the way to the side to drink water now.

I knew something bad was coming a couple of months ago when she was dancing on the table when I was trying to do my weekly bills, just like always, and when she left, my bills were flecked with tiny brown spots. That was probably the beginning of the blockage.

Merly on Sunday

My prayer today was that Merly would die on the deck while she was stretching out in the warm sun, really enjoying all the things she likes about the backyard. The prayer was that God would let her go peacefully in a favorite place. That didn't happen, and tomorrow morning we have to keep the appointment for exploratory surgery, so I am hoping that this means the second part of my prayer will be answered, that if she has to go through it, she'll survive it and thrive again.

Distractions

Michael Jackson and Farah Fawcett died today, which totally took my mind off the possibility one of my cats is also dying. She is down to 9 pounds from 14, and we don't have much evidence she is eating or using the litter box. We drove back to our old vet across town because he's the best, and I think he's mentally preparing us for intestinal tumors, even though he gave a range of possibilities.

Even though I have had this cat for almost 14 years, I seem to have just four photos of her. Merly was never the cutest, just the heaviest and the hungriest and sometimes the most emotionally needy. Otherwise, she kept to herself. It is sad seeing her get so thin.