Tuesday, November 25, 2014

Farewell, Iala

[Note from Scott:  D.Sidhe posted this news in the previous thread, but it deserves to be on the front page.  And D.?  If you have any photos of Iala you'd care to share, I would be more than happy to add them to your lovely tribute.]

Hey, guys. Scott, I need to threadjack.

So our beautiful fluffy twenty one year old kitty Iala died this last weekend. It was old age, we knew it was coming, and she died as I think she would have been content with, at home, in her perch on the bed, between me and my partner, both of us there at the end telling her we loved her and were grateful to have had the time with her. It sucked, but it wasn't terrible, just heartbreaking, if you understand that.

Iala, whose name is taken from a sort of bipedal cat vampire of Romanian folklore, could draw blood through carelessness, or when she was getting a pill, but she spent a lot of time happily showing off her belly to play venus flytrap, too. Which also drew blood. Well, vampire.

She was the most good natured cat I've ever met, and sweetly tolerant of our other cats, she spent a lot of time grooming her humans and sitting on top of them while we all slept. An adventurous, deeply amusing whirlwind in her younger days, as she got older she spent more time with social works like Groom Humans and Clean Water for Cats and Occupy Chair and Bed. We respected her work and tended to end up sleeping and sitting in weird configurations to not make her move.

She was six months or so when she started squatting our doorstep, and following me everywhere I went. This led to a confrontation with a truck, at which point we said "Fuck it" and took her in. She wasn't much good in the wild, but smart enough to find a good home for a long and spoiled life.

Some of my favorite moments, the time she managed to crawl behind the water heater and get stuck there so we had to drape a towel behind it for her to climb up. Her general willingness to not bat around the obnoxious kittens we adopted, even when they were playing with her tail. Her occasional late night roaming across the pillow covering my partner's face at night. The time she stalked by the dryer and smacked the door closed while the younger cat was sleeping in it.

She is survived by the young annoying girlcat Nagi, and her human slaves, who she always treated with patient contempt. She will be placed in a box in the closet with Cypress, and Tora, two other cats whose company she tolerated, and I'll talk to her when I walk by. Also, she liked boxes. And sunlit patches, to which I will occasionally move her when we spend time.

Scott, you can move this away from your much-needed lols review, or whatever you want.

My family here at WoC, you guys don't have to say anything if you don't want to, it's always hard to find things to say. If you could spare it, maybe a small tribute to Sheri's foundation, or just a hope for a sunny blanket in a window for Iala to watch squirrels from in the beyond.


7 comments:

s.z. said...

What a moving tribute to a much-loved cat. I feel sad for your loss. I hope you can find some comfort in knowing that you provided her with a great home and the best in human servants, and that she lived a long, full cat life.

Scott said...

I'm so sorry to hear about Iala, who's popped up in conversation here often over the years. I can't imagine a better end to a good life, but I know it still hurts like hell.

Anonymous said...

ANNTI sez...

D., darling heart, healing soul who sends thousands of origami birds to help others survive surgery, I am so, so sorry for your & your partner's heartbreaking loss. Twenty-one years --- y'all were awfully privileged to share a world with Iala for so long. As I'm sure that she reminded you on a regular basis, being a feline overlord and all...

Somehow, I get the feeling that, like Riley, she hasn't gone so far yet. If she loved you & yours as much as y'all loved her, I imagine that she's still lurking around the house, worried about how her pet humans will ever get by without her. As much as your heart hurts now, know that you are loved, not just by your Wo'C fambly, but also by that feline gawddess who will stay with you always, no matter where in the universe that her chemical residue may fly.
Plus, as she helped you raise other kittehs, you know that she lives on in Nagi, and if you are adopted by future critters of all descriptions, that a little bit of Iala will find its way to them, too, through you humans and Nagi.
James Dammit is very much his own self, believe you me, but every so often, when he's in a non-bitey mood, he can act SO Biddy or Bubbe-Boy, it floors me. He really looks like Biddy's offspring, even with the white domino spots on his pampered belleh. They never crossed paths, but they must be hanging around me somewhere, to keep peeking out of this preternaturally-smart(-assed) little boy the way that they do.

Life isn't as finite and easily-defined as some would have us believe, darling heart, and I know that Iala will be a part of your life forever. Not just because she lives on in your heart & soul and those of your loved one, but because she really will be hanging around, snoring in your ear, sleeping atop your head, hogging the chair, you'll feel it even if you can't see her.

I wish you all of the happiness, healing, love, and commiseration in the world, D., I adore you and admire you so... And as Scott & Mary can attest, those of us who've lost our feline overlords/four-legged chirren lately continue to ache, even if we don't mention it often. It never really goes away, the heartache of loss, but every day that you wake up, it gets a little easier to live with, it fades a little every week. Kinda like scar tissue. You learn to walk despite it, even when it feels like there's a 50-calliber hole in your chest.

Anyone as strong as you are will survive, will always continue to love critters and select/fortunate humans, and someday, when you think about Iala, it won't hurt nearly as much as it brings tears of joy & beloved memories.

In the mean time, if you ever wanna bitch, shoot the shit, cry, throw things, you know where to find me, beloved. Always here, though rarely at early hours. Anything that I can do to help, always.

Love you!
XOXOXO
J/Annti

maryclev said...

D, my heart and all the feels for Iala and her family. I think she and Riley will have a good time bugging Hobbes up there in Kitty Paradise.

ElizabethK said...

Bless you for taking her in and giving her a happy home for so long.

Pere Ubu said...

D - My condolences and best thoughts your way. I'm sure my owner Joss Martin The CAT would send his also if he could type, instead of just pull keys off the keyboard. You guys are in my thoughts.

Weird Dave said...

So I don't want to say much, not 'cause there is nothing to say, but because nothing I can say will change anything.

Remember the good is about the best I can come up with. Hope that is enough.

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