Moving and cats (pictures)

As I wrote in an earlier post, Chouchou is very confortable with boxes everywhere. Momo, on the other hand, does not like it at all, because he feels big changes coming up....

Moving and cats

DH, the cats and myself will be moving on February 1st.

Chouchou, who loves action and anything new, is very happy to jump from one card box to another. She loves to see us pack items.

Momo, who hates changes, is spending some time in the bedroom closet, wondering what is going on and why we are so busy doing this and that (packing, etc).

Two cats... two different ways of seeing life...

The moving day will be hard (with DH, we figured that the best spot for them was the new home's bathroom area, since there is nothing to bring there).

Maxu passed away on January 1st, 2009...

We said goodbye to our cat Maxou on January 1st, 2009. She died peacefully at our home, surrounded by DH and myself.

Maxou was 16 1 /2 years old and had lived with me in Switzerland and Japan, in five different apartments. I adopted her about one week after I had adopted another cat, Titi, who passed away a couple of years ago. At this time, I had just moved into my first apartment, after having found my first job after graduation. New everything.

A friend of the village where I was living told me that the village cheese maker had kittens to give away. Because I was out most of the day, I felt that it would be better for Titi to have a friend.

I went to the cheese maker's home and chose Maxou. Why ? Because she was a red hair cat. It is usually said that red hair cats are male and I found interesting that Maxou was indeed a female.
The first week was pretty difficult for Maxou. She had to adjust to a new home, new food, new owner and another new cat. Maxou and Titi fought for a week. Then, they decided that they liked each other and became best friends.

Over the years, Maxou and Titi went through a love and hate relationship. There were times they adored each other. And other times they resented each other's presence.

It is difficult to describe my relationship with Maxou. Her personality was a little difficult: she did not play (did not enjoy it at all). She was stubborn. She did not always like Titi. She hated Momo and ignored Chouchou. And probably never understood WHY Momo and Chouchou suddenly came into our lives.

She was also a lovely cat. She loved to be petted. And her favorite sleeping spot was a basket near my head, with my hand touching her, either as a cushion or a cover.

Maxou had a hard time health wise. First, the sterilization. In those days, it was heavy surgery. She needed a good week to recover. Then, she had teeth troubles. The different vets I had in her early days did not pay enough attention to her teeth. At the end, many years ago, most of her teeth had to be removed.

When I moved to Japan for the second time, cats needed to spend two weeks in quarantine. This time away from me was very hard on Maxou. She probably thought that I had abandoned her. She started overeating and once weighted about 8 kilos. That was very heavy for her small frame. She eventually developed diabetes. The vet suggested first a very strict diet with a special food for diabetic cats. We did not want to even consider the worst option, daily insulin injections. Luckily, the diet food helped stabilizing her weight gain.

A couple of years ago, during the yearly health check, the vet discovered that Maxou's heartbeat was irregular. Some further checks were done and we realized that Maxou's heart was enlarged. This explained why Maxou had sometimes had troubles keeping food. The vet suggested to have her take medicine daily. Maxou was stubborn and would not be tricked by hiding medicine in food. She hated being forced to take medicine. After a very short and uncomfortable trial period, we had to admit that it would not work out. DH and I decided that we would rather have Maxou enjoying her life for a shorter time rather than adding more stress to a slightly longer life. We stopped giving her medicine.

About two years ago, she started loosing weight, slowly but surely. At the end, she weighted barely two kilos.

One week ago, she got weaker. She was gone in less than two days.

DH and I had originally planned to leave for our yearly visit home on January 1st. The airline canceled the flight on that day and our departure was postponed to January 2nd. We unexpectedly found a new home in December (moving in February) and decided to cancel DH's flight. As fate would have it, Maxou died on January 1st,, with us nearby. DH had her body cremated on January 2nd, after bringing me to the airport.

Maxou is now happy in cats' paradise. And, who knows, maybe she will find a way to sneak out of there and sleep at night near my hand, her favorite spot...