As we were moving, in the throws of the beginning of our remodel, right after Tevye was born, we had yet another major event happen in our lives. Our old cat Chava was put to sleep.
She came to us a rainy September day in 1997. She was sitting outside our window, meowing, waiting to be let in as if it were her home. We eventually took her in and the veterinarian estimated her age to be about a year old, and possibly having already had a litter of kittens.
We named her Chava after Fiddler On The Roof -the younger daughter who ran off and married the Russian, cast out from her family, ostracised. That is sort of how we imagined this poor cat, in the rain, looking desperately for a home, for somebody to take her back in.
This video is Dela’s 3rd grade “How To” instructional class project.
Over the last several years her health has steadily deteriorated. At various times she would groom one area so much her fur would be gone. Other times she wouldn’t eat. For the last couple of years her kidneys have been failing. It got to the point recently (the last year or so) where she stopped grooming herself altogether and everything she ate would never stay down.
It was a tough decision, and there other factors that I’m not getting into, but it was time to let her go. Chava’s quality of life was so diminished, she was in pain, we were actually surprised she had survived as long as she did.
The vet came to our house on a Friday morning and we talked about her history as he examined her. He was ready to go ahead right away, but we had him come back so the kids could have time to say goodbye to her.
Her passing was peaceful and the kids had a chance to say goodbye. A hole was dug and after school I took August, Déla, Ciárán and Xavier out back to bury Chava. We placed her in the hole, said a few words, and a few tears were shed.
We finished, stood up, and as I began to fill in the hole Ciárán turned to walk away and said “Well, that was gross.”