VALE INDIGO

Today, we sent our companion of nearly 17 years, Indigo, across the rainbox bridge. That's a phrase a friend uses when you have to say goodbye to a pet. With the help of a gentle vet, we put Indigo to sleep. 


She's been an indoor cat all her life and apart from a couple of weeks, most of it has been spent within the confines of the Pink House. We knew that it was going to be a risk disrupting the life of a cat who in human terms was in her 80s. She's had more homes in the last couple of months than in her entire life. First there was Glenlyon Rd, then a 4 hour flight to Perth, a short stay in South Fremantle, a longer stay in Loch St and 10 days in the Furbaby Retreat while Susan and I were at the Port Fairy Folk Festival. We were open to the fact that she might not survive the transition and even said so to the vet when we went for her "Fit to Fly" certificate. But it's one thing to say it and another to face up to it.

The lovely owner of the Furbaby Retreat pointed out that there seemed to be something wrong with her sight and the vet confirmed that. The implication was a neural problem which matched the intermittent shaking that she suffered from for a while. That combined with advancing arthritis meant that she had trouble finding her way around and then was in pain trying to get up or down. With nothing to be done to solve the sight proplem, the vet advised daily gabapentin for pain, seizures and anxiety. But is that a life? And then we were going to disrupt her again with the move to Archibald St. Could she learn a new house with little or no sight?

With reluctance and love, we decided that there was going to be little pleasure and only pain left in her life so we made the decision that we'd want for ourselves. Her last couple of weeks have seen her on a lap or in a sun spot while we tried to give her as much care as we could.

Indigo was a beautiful greyTonkinese with the silkiest coat and beautiful gold/green eyes. She loved cheese and icecream and butter. [Who said that cats are lactose intolerant?] Another favourite taste sensation was cat grass. She was a lap sitter, joining Sebastian for many nights watching television with Susan as next choice when he left home. Her best score on the iPad game Mouse for Cats was over 100. She was a charmer except if you moved when she didn't want to and then the claws and teeth would be out to remind you of your role as a servant. She hogged the heater during winter but kept us warm as well. She appeared in Zoom classes and walked across keyboards with gay abandon. She appeared in a Multicultural Arts Council Covid Exhibition as well as at the National Gallery of Victoria. 

She gave us care and company for many years and, as they say in the classics, will be greatly missed.







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