Will Leshner: Baba

Baba

We, of course, always think about Baba.

Baba picture

Here's a picture of Baba. He was a pretty cat.

I did get the Baba book back, by the way. It looks great. I should post some pictures of Baba so's you can see what you looked like.

I sent off an order for my Baba book. It turns out to be close to $40 when you add S&H, but that's still not bad. I can't wait to see how it turns out.

I'm trying to put the finishing touches on a book of Baba pictures. I'm using iPhoto to make the book. For $30 you get a printed book with ten pages of your pictures. I'm also planning to make one of our trip to Joshua Tree.

A short film that made us cry.

Unfortunately, I think I need to post in order to fix links. I'm hoping this will work.

I'm currently scanning pictures of Baba. I intend to make a book using iPhoto. We have a lot of pictures, but I'll have to figure out which ones are worthy of a book.

Baba is really gone, but my wife and I swear that we both heard his voice. A shared hallucination?

We took Baba's body to the crematorium today. We should get his ashes back in about a week. It was very difficult as that was the last time we could see him as he was. I am surprised just how many times we have had to say goodbye. When we first found something wrong. When we found out it was cancer. When we found out it couldn't be treated. When we decided that his time had come to be put to sleep. When we left the house with him still alive. When we had him at the doctor's office right before the first shot. After the first shot when he was still alive but basically unconscious. After the second shot when he was dead. When his body was at home with his fur brushed (he just looked asleep). Taking his body to the crematorium. Saying goodbye for the last time at the crematorium. My wife cried at each of those times.

Before we took Baba to the vet we let him go outside for about 30 minutes. Baba was in indoor cat but he always wanted to go outside. He even managed to get outside a couple of times and on at least one occasion he was out there for an hour or so before we realized it. We always managed to find him, though. So we figured that before the end we should give him a chance to be outside. He had already grown quite weak and he wasn't eating at all. But he did seem to perk up a bit once he got outside. I bet there might even be people who would have thought it a good idea to give him one more day, but that would have been wrong. He was ready to go. I'm glad we were able to give him one last nice memory before he left.

Baba died today at about 5:00pm. First they gave him a shot that made him fall asleep. He almost seemed dead at that point but he was still breathing. His eyes were half open but he would react if you touched him. After waiting about 10 minutes the doctor came back in and gave him a shot that took about 10 seconds to deliver. By the time he was finished with the shot Baba was gone. There was much crying.

Today is Thursday. We are planning to take Baba to the vet on Friday to be put to sleep. We may have waited too long, but it is tough to think about doing it when he's still moving around and looking at us in the way that he does.

Gave Baba some more fluids today. He isn't eating but the fluids appear to be keeping him feeling better. But you can't help feeling that we are just keeping him alive unnaturally.

We gave Baba an IV (it isn't really an IV as it is just fluids under the skin) and he is doing much better. It is almost like he has come back to like. I'm so glad we didn't panic and take him to the vet.

test

Baba seems a bit better, but it won't last. He has good moments and bad moments. When there are more bad moments than good it will be time to take him to the vet.

Maybe I can use this space to record a diary about our cat Baba. He has cancer and I don't think he is going to survive much longer. My wife and I tried to give him an IV yesterday, but we failed. We've never done such a thing before and we just couldn't seem to figure out how far to stick the needle into his skin. I guess it wasn't far enough because when we turned the IV "on" all the juice ran out. I think we are going to have to have the vet do it for us.