| She struggled for her last three breaths in my arms, and I cried and I cried. Just hours before, not even a full day, Sassy was playful and cuddly. She brought her ball to us to throw and gently joined us as we laid down to rest on our fluffy down comforter. She loved to sneak under the sheets and spread out beside my tummy and rest her sweet little head on my arm, sometimes belly up and toes pointed. She had the softest of fur, almost a sateen with a shine unlike any product infused brunette or shine enhanced dirty blonde. Sassy was as beautiful as they get. She remained thin even at nearly 4 years old, but very healthy without any experience of illness. She was happy, lively, lovely and warm. The last hand full of years have been difficult for me. After barely making it through college while struggling with depression and relationship to relationship, I continued to live pay check to pay check until it ran out after I was fired while working in Van Nuys. Sassy was there the whole time. My sister and I found her and rescued her in 2008 from a family who planned on leaving her there when they moved out. We were captivated by her when we first laid eyes on her. She was so small and fluffy. Her markings were those of a tiger in browns and creams and blacks with a white underbelly from chin to tail. She was jittery and hated being picked up, but after finding her and catching her, My sister experienced her sass first hand when she left a trail of diarrhea down the front of her clothes and fought every inch of the way to the car. She was all ours now. Sassy was all ours. So I took Sassy back to school with me. I was a senior in college living with two other girls in a two bedroom apartment in Azusa. Then halfway through the year I moved in with my best friend and her Westie puppy into one bedroom that we shared with bunk beds and two very opposite animals. Sassy and Kaylee got along well but that never kept my kitty from joining the other tom cats outside. Sassy always managed to escape to bring back male cats to our window, calling her back to them. She was lovely, one of a kind, so I don't blame them. After 6 or 7 months, Sassy joined us and another girl into another one bedroom apartment in La Verne where we stayed for a year. Sassy became Kaylee's best friend. However, I cannot say the same about Kaylee. Sassy loved jumping high and chasing after hair ties and target toy balls. She was as healthy as they came while she ran across the apartment after anything thrown for her. She loved the adventure. This particular year was difficult for me. While I had graduated from college in the other apartment, I experienced being even tighter with money after graduation. I worked two jobs--one as a nanny of two boys, being paid $180 a week, and another as a nursery leader being paid $100 every other week. The Lord provided during those times of need and kept Sassy close to me when I was hurting, feeling depressed and hungry. Sassy had truly become a piece of the character of Christ. It was then that I realized that the Lord brought he Sassy for a reason--she was going to help me through all of this. And that she did. I finally got another, better paying job, in Los Angeles where I never had ever felt so alone. My job put me in fear daily because of its dangerous clients and I lived with someone I couldn't connect with. Sassy was my comfort. Sassy was there when I came home from work and slept with me all through the night. She never left my side. I needed her. And once I lost my job, Sassy was all I had left. I returned home, where I lived for this last year or so. Sassy didn't get along with the other cats or dogs for a while but finally let the other cats sleep on our bed and in the desk chair. I shared one room with her, where we spent much time napping and crafting and tossing balls. I would wake almost every day with her bonker balls under the sheets with me. She loved to be with me. This last year in Yucca, Sassy matured into her personality. She loved to follow me through the house at night and into the bathroom every time. She always sat like a hen on my bent knees when I read in bed, or else she would be under them, tented by the comforter. When I woke, she woke. When I rested, she rested. I loved her more than anything. And she showed me more love any anyone. Sassy was my girl. I thanked God for her every single day. I knew I was blessed with an incredible kitty, just for me. She was all mine. Holding her during her last ounce of strength was the most painful time of my life. We just moved into a new apartment in Redondo Beach, where my fiance and I plan on making a home because our wedding day was only 12 days away on April 21st. Only a day or two after she got here, she was acting unusual. At this time, we introduced Domo, Elliot's cat, into the apartment after Sassy got use to it for a couple days. That exact day, Sassy seemed depressed, with labored breathing, and slothiness. She never left from under the bed. I visited her down there a couple times and she seemed fine until i brought her to the couch where I noticed how utterly weak she was and how smelly her breath has been. Elliot found a small yellow pile of urine on the bed. But with further investigation, it was vomit. Sassy began to painfully throw up twice before we raced to the vet with her in a towel. She had never been sick before, so I didn't know what to do. The vet injected her with antibiotics and an IV and offered to keep her there with other help, but we could not afford it and knew she would be getting better with fluids and maybe a good nights sleep. We brought her home and made a room just for her around 1am on April 9th. She was moving around little but was still very weak and breathing heavy into a loud purr. When 6:30am came around, I ran down the hall to check on Sassy and give her her prescribed medication. I found her in an uncomfortable position in the closet, between boxes, barely breathing. She hollered like a horn as I lifted her out. Her neck seemed to be barely hanging onto her body, and her eyes looked as if she never shut them the night before. She winched as she took every breath. What was going on?! My heart and my eyes cried unlike they ever have. I insisted with Elliot that we spend as much money as possible on bringing her back to health. I weeped and I weeped as I wrapped her in the towel again, holding her head up in my arms. While we ran down the hall and stairs, I could barely feel her breathing. It quickly became one breath every eight seconds. I squeezed her chest, hoping to manually work her lungs. I cried as I spoke to my girl, pleading that she breath again. Sassy breathe! Her mouth was locked open and her eyes big and wide. Her chest stopped responding to the pressure. I knew she was gone. Only a couple seconds left on the ride to the vet, I knew I lost my girl. The vet confirmed her death that day, April 10th, 2012. I let them have her body. Sassy was almost 4 years young. I haven't stopped crying since. |
