Two Years On...

I found my oldest cat, Artemis, 19 years ago when I lived in Tokyo. She was my first fur-covered pet ever - I only had fish when I was a kid. She's been the perfect pet - polite, clean, cuddly, fun to play with, and in charge of all of the other animals in the house. We all live by her rules, which is OK because she's even stricter than I am! She's also been a wonderful companion as I've travelled the world, keeping me company in foreign countries where I didn't know anyone and didn't speak the language very well. I've spent more time with her than most of my family and my closest friends. While I know she's 'just a cat', I can't deny her constant presence in my life or the affection we share.

Two years ago, we thought she was going to die. She was diagnosed with chronic renal failure, and we were told that she only had days-to-weeks to live. I was heart-broken - life without Artemis is pretty unimaginable. But the vet showed us a procedure that would keep her comfortable in the time she had left, twice-daily injections of fluid under her skin to help her flush out the toxins that her kidneys can't cope with. We've been sticking her with needles pretty religiously since then, foregoing holidays, shortening our after-work activities, and basically revolving our lives around her treatment schedule.

Yesterday marked the second year of her survival - well beyond what anyone ever anticipated when we started. Artemis has not only survived but seems to thrive, as well - she plays with the make-up brushes that she steals from anyone who's careless enough to leave them within her reach, stalks through the grass in the garden in search of birds to chirp at, and maintains her role as alpha cat in the house. Every day, I simply hope for one more good day with her, and she's rewarded us with 730 of them!

Obviously, we don't give our cats champagne. To celebrate her second-year milestone, Artemis had a big bowl of tuna for dinner last night. After that, my husband and I ordered in some gyoza and opened a bottle of Maison Lenique 2004 - both to toast Artemis and to thank each other for our teamwork and efforts over the years. May we all have one more good day...