9 Lives Well Lived, Harris Spouts
Wednesday - August 09, 2006
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Del.icio.us“If a man could be crossed with a cat, it would improve the man but it would degrade the cat.”- Mark Twain
I’ve let the subject of killing our cat rest a while before writing about it.
Terminating a feline companion is not easy. Your cat probably will get old before you do and you may have to make the big decision.
Our cat, Babe, a Birman, had 17 years of indoor-outdoor life. Then the cancerous tumor, and deciding when it would be inhumane to prolong her life. The difficulty was that Babe had no say in the decision.
Some people will spend many thousands of dollars on cat operations such as a kidney transplant.
Aside from the money issue, how much pain, discomfort or recovery problems are you willing to put your cat through so you can continue to have it there to please you?
Ask the advice of a veterinarian you trust. We’ve always taken our cats to doctors Sue Sylvester-Palumbo and Nick Palumbo at The Cat Clinic in Kapahulu. We figured why take a cat anywhere but where cats are the whole practice? Nick diagnosed Babe’s breast tumor and said he could operate, but that such excisions were seldom successful.
We brought Babe home and she was fine for several months. Then the tumor grew right out of her skin. She seemed happy, ate heartily and went about her daily routine. She purred and could jump on the couch and bed and chase birds.
The time came when her eating slowed dramatically and so did her drinking, and she’d disappear for long periods. She smelled bad.
We let go. We gave Babe a 12-hour finale with fish and cantaloupe (her favorites) and hugs (she liked petting more than food.) Then we took her to Dr. Sue, who gave her a sedative and the heart-stopping shot with tenderness and dignity. Babe was gone in three seconds.
You don’t easily get over the loss of a pet any more than another family member. But of course we don’t euthanize human family members - not yet. And when we legally can, we’ll talk it over with them if talking’s viable.
Babe had no say but we’re sure she would not have wanted any more of the pain, the loss of appetite and the thing that was eating her up.
We have no regret. Sadness and loss, yes. No regret.
A Canadian newspaper says ex-Honolulu mayor Jeremy Harris spoke to the township of Saanich and “outlined his city’s startling transformation from a place of box stores, high-rises and six-lane freeways to a people-friendly city on the cutting edge of environmental technology.”
The paper says when Harris took over in 1994 “that city’s transit system was in woeful shape. A busy freeway ran past storied Waikiki Beach, the municipality had no green building standards and air and water pollution were ruining the city’s tourist-based economy.”
It said that “Harris purchased state-of-the-art technology for the city’s sewage systems, which automatically notifies staff of the date, time and nature of any problems.”
Wonder what former Mayor Fasi thinks of all that?
I’m never Mr. Freebie, only recommending the best, even if they don’t advertise in MidWeek.
* I had an industrial-size bolt pierce my car tire. Went to a famous tire place. “Hour and a half or more” to fix it. Pulled into the Shell station at Ward and Queen, run by an immigrant Vietnamese woman. “Fix it for you right away. $15.”
* Never go to Waikiki? Make an exception for the Top of Waikiki with no-valet, fully validated parking. Great and affordable food (no $50 lamb chops) from Chef Sean Priester. Do the beef on a hot rock, the poke stack and the several-ways Hamakua mushrooms.
Yes, it is for locals!
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Correction: I regret and apologize that 1st Congressional District candidate Noah Hough (R) was mischaracterized in the biographical background in my column last week. Hough lists himself as an Army veteran of Rwanda, Bosnia, Iraq, and a defense analyst. He says at his website of his concerns: “First, and the most evident, is the rejection of America by some Hawaiians - some powerful people have mobilized tens of thousands of our citizens, those with a drop of Hawaiian blood, into a state of disloyalty, or a spirit of demanding special privilege. I see these events as unfortunate proof of decades of leadership failure.”
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