Eulogy09:34 Dec 02 2007
Times Read: 589
On Friday, the 30th of November 2007 Eric Stanley-Livingstone aged approximately 10 (55 Cat years) was euthanatised at midday. He had been diagnosed with Feline Leukaemia Virus (FeLV), a terminal and incurable condition.
The week prior, he began to show symptoms of ill health; listlessness, loss of appetite, and unusual quietude. On Monday, 26th November he was found to have jaundice due to an extremely low red blood cell count. This was caused by his immune system attacking his red blood cells; his FeLV brought on this condition.
I decided that I didn’t want to see him waste away and that as much as he was a good friend and companion to me, that causing him to continue to suffer was cruel. Therefore I arranged for him to receive a lethal injection of anaesthetic and held him while it was administered.
Eric will be cremated and after his ashes are returned to me, he will be interred in one of two possible resting places; either the backyard here at Miss Elizabeth’s Home for Wayward Dragons or Woodbourne, my ancestral family home.
Eric came to live with me, as some of you may know, on the 26th of September 2004. He was then operating without a human given name as his previous guardian had named him Psycho, a name that I felt did not match his personality. I had tried out several names with him and none seemed to catch his fancy until one day when we were listening to Eric Clapton’s “Unplugged” and I enquired if Eric was suitable. He seemed to react favourably and the name stuck. He acquired the sobriquet Stanley-Livingstone because of the events that led up to his co-habitation with me.
Approximately 3.5 months prior to his arrival at Trafalgar Lodge (my domicile at the time) Eric was ensconced with his former family; Aaron, Rustique and Spaz (another feline). Prior to this time, Ashka, the feline companion of my girlfriend went missing.
Ashka was in the habit of ‘taking tea’ with the lady who lived in the garret apartment next door to her domicile. However when the lady next door moved out and Ashka went over to see her, the new tenants decided that she was a stray and shipped her off to a relative who lived several blocks away across a busy street. Ashka was trapped in a strange house with strange people that she neither liked nor appreciated.
13 weeks later I hear that my friends Aaron and Rustique need to find a new home or two for their cats. I arrange a visit with Dawn and myself to meet the cats. Eric warmed to us immediately and when the cat carrier was opened, he immediately entered and made himself at home. Therefore it had been decided and Eric went to live with Dawn. Among his possessions was a leash for him to go for walks with, as he was large enough to qualify as a dog (Dave and I maintained that he was actually a dog, a Rurislovan Mauserhund).
Dawn had canvassed the neighbourhood, including the new neighbours about the disappearance of Ashka, so it was with some surprise that upon Eric’s second promenade in the neighbourhood that the children of aforementioned neighbours (who had also been canvassed and denied any knowledge) mentioned that the cat Dawn described this time as having gone missing 3 months prior was very like the one that they had given to their aunt.
The address was collected and then so was Ashka, much to the delight not only of her and Dawn, but also to the family she had been foisted upon as she was not assimilating with the family at all (except for one young man who endeavoured to earn her approbation).
Ashka came home and in her exuberance at being home, totally managed to not notice Eric for nearly 24 hours. At that point however, she made it quite unequivocal that he would have to find a new residence. Hence he came to live with me.
After the decision to accept the name Eric, I appended Stanley-Livingstone to his name, as it was his circumnavigation of Dawn’s neighbourhood that led to the discovery of Ashka’s whereabouts and so, in honour of that, and a tip of the hat to Henry M Stanley’s search for Dr. David Livingstone, this idea was suggested by Dawn.
I will miss Eric, he was a good friend and companion and while my work kept me out of the house and we didn’t get to spend much time together, what time we got to spend together was of immeasurable quality.
COMMENTS
-
xxEmaeraldxx
19:56 Jan 20 2008
It is sad , and heartbreaking when we lose a pet, but it is good they live in our hearts and minds forever. I lost three pet dogs in recent years, it was the worse time of my life.