I was in love with Houdini Harrison and he was on my list of cats that I wanted to bring home (you know the one).
Many of us have been there –we are in love with a cat, but we can’t take them home. In some cases it is because we live in too small of a space, in others we have the maximum number of cats that we can handle, sometimes it is a matter of timing and circumstances.
For Bob and I, our feline family had inadvertently grown by two – Fluffy a temporary foster that turned into full time family member and Jessica an almost casualty of our local shelter who chose us with a vengeance. Both have been welcome additions to the clan, but made our family and living quarters maxed with six cats.
And now the chance to adopt him is gone. Houdini Harrison crossed to the Rainbow Bridge on Thursday, August 25, 2016 – also my father’s birthday and I like to think of him meeting Houdini there and reminding him how much we love him.
As with many of the GKR cats, Houdini’s body succumbed to renal failure. Just days before he was crossed, cat caregiver, Barbara Sanderson told me that, “Houdini is in late stage renal failure. The bittersweet thing is, he now meows for treats and comes down. I and some others can fluid him. He is skinny as a rail, but purrs and even lets me pick him up. He gives head butts. He still has his shy moments and keeps with his shy friends. Most of them are also onto the treat thing. He still has quality of life, but does seem to be getting tired. He is eating well, when his friends don’t move in on his food. Still, he is very skinny and we have to keep a close eye on him.”
Between ring worm outbreaks and the one building a day rule, we have not been able to spend as much time visiting Houdini as we used to. That made me very sad and I hope that in his heart he knew that we missed seeing him so very much and that we never stopped loving him and thinking about him.
In addition to feeling so sad that we never got to live day to day with Houdini in a home, I feel guilty that somehow I failed him by not giving him the opportunity to live out the last part of his life in a loving home. I know I cannot second guess our decisions – they were made with good sound thinking, but tell that to my heart…
And I guess that is a large part as to why it has taken me so long to write about my love for Houdini. That and the fact that I cannot do it without becoming a weeping mess. But I will chalk up my tears to tears of sadness at his crossing mingled with tears of joy that I got to know and love this gentle soul.