RIP Izzy 12 May 2025

This is not the first post that I wanted to make after a long gap.  I had been planning to talk about my retirement, the latest Cambridge Literary Festival, plays and concerts attended, books read.  Instead, Izzy died last night.

I had been a bit late feeding her, as we had been out to an (indifferent) student production at Anglia Ruskin.  It was a warm, sunny evening so we walked over and back, and as soon as we got home I put out Izzy's cat food.  She rushed into the kitchen and happily devoured the cat crunchies in one of the bowls. Then I made us dinner and we watched some TV.  Izzy then threw up at the bottom of the stairs.  I assumed that it was a reaction from eating too fast, so was mildly annoyed.

A bit later I heard her howling from upstairs.  This was a noise she had never made before, raucous and disturbing.  I went up to see what was the matter and found her lying on her front, her back legs splayed out, and howling repeatedly.  I called the emergency vet (it was just after 9 pm) and they said to bring her in and they could see her at 9:45.  M brought the cat carrier down from the loft and slid the open end towards her.  She hauled herself in by her front feet and I pushed her back end in.  She managed to turn herself round so she was facing the door.

The emergency vet is in Milton, about a 20 minute drive.  We got there by 9:30 and they saw her immediately.  They gave her a sedative and pain relief as soon as we got there. The vet said that it was most likely there was a blood clot in one of the veins on her back legs, then explained that the treatment options were limited and did not have a good prognosis, so we decided to let her go.

So at 8pm, when I fed her, she was fine, by 10 pm she was dead.

She was quite an ordinary black and white cat, with green eyes and an intense stare.  She was just 16, and definitely a one person cat, and that person was me.  She used to purr like a train for as long as I would sit beside her giving her fuss.  She led a happy life right up until those last couple of hours.  I’m going to miss her terribly.