Goodbye and hello

We said goodbye to a longtime friend last week. Spooky, the cat I'd had for 12 yrs, passed away on Thursday. He went quietly at the vets office. I have to think that he is in a better place now. He had CRF and had been failing slowly over the past few years. The past months the changes were happening faster, he was slowing down a lot, wasn't coming to meet us at the door anymore (he use to be waiting for us before we got up the stairs), and seemed to forget where the litter box was more and more often. His overall behaviour was degrading as well, he had always had sooo much patience for Son, lately Spooky had been nipping at him almost before Son could say hello. It was very sad. He was not a happy kitty. We would sometimes let him outside to explore with supervision, but more and more he was going into the bushes and hiding instead of exploring. It freaked Son out when he couldn't find Spooky right away, he hated the thought of him going missing.

We spent a lot of time over the last year warning Son that Spooky was very very sick and might not get worse for a while, but that he would never get completely better. He knew that eventually the illness would win. This isn't to say that he was completely ready to say goodbye, neither was I. I still look over to side of the living room where Spooky's cat tree was expecting to see him curled up there. I still look for him on my bed to warm my feet. It is a very odd thing to put a pile of clean laundry down on the bed and know that when I come back there won't be a cat curled up on it.

We will miss you Spooky.

One of the things that helped Son cope with the idea of loosing a friend he had known for his entire life was the idea of getting a new pet. He knew it wouldn't be a dog or a cat, but a fish might be OK. He had seen his cousin's betta fish and thought that might be something we would get him. I was thinking a small 1 or 2 gallon tank with a couple of plants and a single fish. After reading more about Betta fish I realized that it would need about 5 gallons, still a fairly small tank, not a problem I thought just more room for plants or decorations. That was before Hubby started looking into Betta fish and tanks. Those of you who know Hubby know that he doesn't just do something, he researches and reads and falls in love with the process. This is what happened in regards to the fish. We now have a lovely "Nano Cube 12 Gallon Deluxe" fish tank, lots of plants, and some wood for interest. The one thing we do not have is any fish.

We have been researching and learning and following instructions from the fish store.... then following new instructions from actual keepers of fish. The result of following the new instructions is an almost crystal clear tank with actual oxygen bubbles coming from the plants instead of a cloudy tank with sad looking plants. For some reason they didn't like the salt we put in the first batch of water, who knew? The addition of bio-and-fertilizer-infused gravel couldn't have hurt either. According to all we have read, we might actually be able to add in a fish or two in 3 weeks. Son is very very sad, he keeps asking when we are going to get a fish, any fish. I hate to make him wait, but really I'd rather not kill any fish... not this soon after loosing the first pet we had.