Piper died

Piper, the blind cat that our granddaughter Corina gave us to take care of died on the first of November. The condition he had that made him blind from birth also causes congestive heart failure. He did not make adequate enzymes to utilize taurine. For five years I did give him supplements that kept his heart from failing and it worked as long as he consumed those chemistries...he lacked adequate molybdenum coenzymes to make sulfite oxydase. I got his diagnosis from the vets and worked on keeping him from having congestive heart failure for six years.

But along with that risk, also it is harder on the liver and kidneys. They started to fail, I could maintain enough of his enzymes so he could live longer, he was nine years old and enjoyed five good years of minor setbacks. The vets use of steroids almost killed him the first time we brought him to one, but I learned what he had and I made it so he could enjoy himself pretty much.

He was a good friend, I hated to see him be sick with coughing. The bad side effect of his feeling good is that he kept getting in places he should not have been in, he climbed on top of things and would meow because he could not see how to get down. He was very athletic, he would do summersaults on the floor with my guidance " I was his cathletic trainer" He was training for the Catlimics. He would do ten to fifteen somersaults/flips every evening if he was feeling good, we would clap and chear and he would clap with us on the side of the couch. He was proud of himself. I believe that his personality was like a humans. But he summersaulted right over my arm on the kitchen table and hit the floor more than a few times. He could not see the end of the table....the wife and I were scared he would hurt himself. We hauled him off and within a minute he climbed up the chair back and was back up.

The house seems so dead with him gone, he raised our spirits and kept us alert of our surroundings.

I made an oak sided coffin with a solid hickory board top and solid pine board bottom for his casket. The top and bottom were fourteen inches by twenty four inches long. We buried him Saturday, had a regular funeral at our house. Stained with honey oak stain and finished with a watco oil coating that we used on our house trim after finish sanding the casket.

We cooked a pound and a half of bacon for the funeral, because it was his favorite food. We have around twenty five pounds in our freezer, he ate about twelve ounces of it every week...that might have contributed to his bad liver enzymes too. We put in a piece of bacon under his nose in the coffin. Also we included two mice...he went onto our desk all the time and took our bank deposit slips and reciepts and hauled them all over and meowed like he had a mouse. He really meowed mouse when he got ahold of a roll of the wife's knitting yarn. Also included in the box is a bookmark that Piper kept taking out of my wife's books she reads every night...a different kind of mouse which had a different meow sound.

Now we also had Panna Kaukku at this funeral. My granddaughter Corina's favorite desert...the finnish pancake. You see, from Corina's appartment when we were cleaning it out, she had a fancy little sliding top decorated box and we filled it with her ashes and we put it between Pipers arms...he was holding on to it. So this was sort of like a burial of Corina too. her stone that My cousin sent is some sort of garden stone with her name on it...it will be
his and her headstone.

We will miss him a lot, as much as we miss Corina because she lived with us for six years too. The old saying that death comes in threes is not fulfilled, I do not want anyone else to die, neither human or our animal friends. Our goldfish has been swimming on his side and cannot get to the top of the tank because he/she ruptured it's swim bladder...for sixteen months now. It is used to it, after a couple of months of being bummed out, it started to learn it's new life. Piper came from constant coughing to our house, and I got his coughing spells down to maybe three times a year if he did not drink his medicinal milk coctail twice a day...he would go down hill till we got him drinking. Even though he was blind, he really enjoyed feeling so much better. I will miss his energy. One thing about owning a blind cat, it was good for us. We learned to keep things in the same place, the wife has not tripped much anymore. I told her to be aware that piper could be everywhere, not just in the house...she watches her steps everywhere now. Piper helped her this way. We learned from piper too, we learned things that will make us safer in the future. I will miss that little boy.

It gets harder to lose a pet when we get older, and it also harder to see your kids and grandkids die. I grew up on a farm...my dad pushed into my brain that we should not get attached to animals because we might have to eat them. But that was long ago, I would rather starve than eat my pet now. I have no problem eating the beef we get from the farmer, but even those people could not eat the cow that calved many of their herd, because they got too attached to it. They sold that burger at the coop, it was good burger, it was cheap but full of flavor. But they sold it to the coop for just a little more than the cost of the packing plant cost...because they could not feel good about eating their friend.

Aw, Ricky-that's so sad. I'm sorry for your double loss; may they rest in peace together.

a reply to: nugget1


At least we feel a little better by putting some of Corina's ashes in the pet cemetary.

The wife and my ashes will be going into a special cement with clay in it for the cemetery marker when we die. I need to build the form and stock the supplies for the stone. If the kids sell our place, they can take the thing with them if they want and put in into a sidewalk or use it to build a big outdoor fireplace at their house. I also have some dinosaur or permineralized mastodon bones I should cut into slabs for future use for them to build. But, I know what these things are, the kids do not pay attention to the fruits of my research and finds, so I have to clearly mark what these things are so they will know. There are a lot of things in the ground that people can't even comprehend what they are.

a reply to: rickymouse

You did a great job honoring your loved ones, and more importantly being kind and loving. It’s all you can do in this world, and you did a bang-up job of it.

You made them happy, and made God happy. Good on you.

a reply to: rickymouse

I have to clearly mark what these things are so they will know

I have been doing that this past year and writing the family history behind everything. For example, I have an Ivory Scrimshaw bracelet that was made for my grandmother by a native craftsman in Seward, Alaska during WWII that I'm passing on to my youngest.
I didn't realize what a daunting task this would be when I started!

This bracelet always made me feel close to Grandma; I wonder if some of my things will bring the same kind of comfort to my kids one day.

originally posted by: rickymouse

I made an oak sided coffin with a solid hickory board top and solid pine board bottom for his casket. The top and bottom were fourteen inches by twenty four inches long. We buried him Saturday, had a regular funeral at our house. Stained with honey oak stain and finished with a watco oil coating that we used on our house trim after finish sanding the casket.

I think people like you are just so wonderful, taking such a task up that demands time and energy all for an animal of yours. I know most people would call such an undertaking a waste of time, unnecessary, ridiculous and what have you. Me though, I feel like having people like yourself in society makes for a more healthy, empathetic, understanding, and civilized life for all. I think it’s actually a great sign of a society when people are able to continue BEYOND humans and start treating small animals even with the love and respect that you would treat one of your own.

Pretty pointless post, I get it. And a post which likely has little support, but that is how I see things. That is coming from a guy though who loves animals so much and adores my dogs that I did the vegetarian thing for 18 years until I learned that vegetarianism kills more animals BY FAR than eating meat does and a guy who loved my dogs so much that even with their low life expectancy for their breeds of 8-11 years, mine were with me until they were both twenty three, they were so loved and I never got cheap I or lazy and gave them cancer causing kibble, that in the end, when my workplace learned my dogs had died (one Friday afternoon and his buddy on Sunday) they called me after finding out and asked if I needed bereavement time, simply guessing I would be in pieces…

And I was…I didn’t get the full three weeks like they give for family members, but my boss was able to argue 5 days of bereavement out of his supervisor and I will never forget what a kind and seriously needed gesture that was that they did for me! I only used two and then I decided to return just so I didn’t take advantage of the situation but to would have been a disaster the first 48 hours and I appreciate it so much.

So yea, I think making a quality coffin for your cat is in and of itself, just a beautiful gesture and I am sure that that cat will be eagerly waiting to see you again in the next life, afterlife, dimension, whatever may come…

a reply to: rickymouse

So sorry to hear of Piper's passing; you and your family have really had a rough time of late.

Ricky, what you did for Piper's funeral goes above and beyond what the majority of people would do. It demonstrates a deep human quality that, sadly, is in rapid decline... I applaud you for letting your heart guide your actions in remembrance of Piper and your dear Corina. I've sure they are both reunited again in a better place.

Prayers for all and take care,
Enzo

a reply to: rickymouse

Sorry to read your post.

Parting with such dedicated companions is indeed a heartbreak.

May both of your cats R.I.P.

Cheers

a reply to: AlexandrosOMegas

Building a wood coffin is essential, we had some of our pet rabbits dug up by wild animals around thirty years ago at our house in the pet cemetary, so we have to put them in wood coffins. Now, I have got elaborate with coffins most times, solid oak with the side handles made from wood with Chrome plated side rails for carrying of the coffin. All are sanded to furniture quality and finished with stain and sealed with watco which is tongue oil. The side handles like on human coffins are oak and the hardware is from chrome plated brass toilet seat hardware. I bought around ten sets of them about twenty five years ago from our local hardware store that was having a going out of business sale...three bucks a set.

I have quite a bit of rough cut oak, maple, hickory , and pine boards. and the tools to make almost everything. Last time I made coffins for cats, I made the pieces for six.....but we used all of those up in the last four years. So I needed to make this one by itself. I have two daughters who own cats, one has five, one has six. They are getting old too. I expanded the pet cemetary to increase it to cover twelve more cats.

There are only two dogs buried there, and one bird, plus three pet fish, and lots of rabbits. the grave marker for the fish is a glass jar with a gold fish in it in pure vodka. It still looks pretty good after twenty five years. I guess vodka preserves pretty well.

The fact that I create nice coffins is as you said, my show of respect for our pets. It makes the wife and I feel better, the animals do not really care what they are buried in.

I was fitting up the cat in the garage to see if the coffin was sized and out loud I asked him how the coffin felt. He said it was good in my mind but did mention I should have made it four years ago so he could have enjoyed laying in it. Those thoughts I had seemed to come out of nowhere....I actually am questioning if I am getting hulu or if maybe there is more to the reality we live in than what people of science and the people who profit off of us want us to believe.

originally posted by: F2d5thCavv2
a reply to: rickymouse

Sorry to read your post.

Parting with such dedicated companions is indeed a heartbreak.

May both of your cats R.I.P.

Cheers

Corina was my granddaughter who committed suicide. It was her ashes I put in with Piper. Only one cat died....my granddaughter died about four months ago

originally posted by: Encia22
a reply to: rickymouse

So sorry to hear of Piper's passing; you and your family have really had a rough time of late.

Ricky, what you did for Piper's funeral goes above and beyond what the majority of people would do. It demonstrates a deep human quality that, sadly, is in rapid decline... I applaud you for letting your heart guide your actions in remembrance of Piper and your dear Corina. I've sure they are both reunited again in a better place.

Prayers for all and take care,
Enzo

I am pretty sure they are telling stories about me and laughing wherever they are now.

I know how difficult it is to bury your precious pet.

In fact we lost our faithful Corgi Bailey last year.

The house was quiet and nobody felt like talking.

I realized that having our pet drew us together.

I decided to end the pain and go get a puppy.

I am happy to report we are back to group hugs.

I believe these babies are God’s greatest gifts.

Look at the love your family has to give.

Please, when you catch your breath get another.

Many could use a loving family.

I also believe with all my heart you will see Piper again.

Nobody can tell me animals don’t have souls.

On your last day I expect Piper to lead you home.

I know I expect a stampede when that day comes.

originally posted by: rickymouse

originally posted by: F2d5thCavv2
a reply to: rickymouse

Sorry to read your post.

Parting with such dedicated companions is indeed a heartbreak.

May both of your cats R.I.P.

Cheers

Corina was my granddaughter who committed suicide. It was her ashes I put in with Piper. Only one cat died....my granddaughter died about four months ago

Sorry for my confusion about that. May your granddaughter rest in heavenly peace.

--Cav

a reply to: rickymouse

Yes, absolutely! And I'm sure they are very close to you in spirit, as long as you don't forget.

At times of trouble and despair, I always have the sensation that my grandmother is next to me, holding my hand... and everything will be alright.

a reply to: rickymouse

Thank you for telling us about Piper's life, Ricky. Some people think cats aren't as loving because they aren't as openly demonstrative as dogs. Those of us that live with them know better. Cats almost always want to be near you; their definition of "near" is often different than ours. If a cat is 50 feet away and aware of you, you two are together. I most enjoy those moments when they are resting on us. I can almost feel the exchange of energies. I know they can.

I am going through what you did right now with our old boy, Rascal. He came to us 14 years ago, a feral cat that was difficult to approach. He used to sneak up on us and claw and bite the backs of our legs, and for quite a while we were scared #less of him. I learned to exclude him from inside the house when he attacked us, and that was the only way to change his behavior. He has slept with us the past ten years. He's a good boy.

Right now, he is a skinny shadow of his former self. His right eye is occluded from the lack of taurine. I boil turkey necks to try to entice him into taking on more taurine. He doesn't like dry food any more. Will lick the gravy off wet foot. He would eat turkey baby food for a while but not any more. I make my own version, and he will sometimes take it. I know his heart is flagging. He went for a walk around the house and yard with me today, which was unusual. You know when they are at their end.

Piper made you better, and you made him better. You all were an "us" and anyone who laughs at that doesn't understand the energies of the universe. I really feel for you. Truly. My Bride and me have buried seven formerly feral cats in the last ten years. It doesn't get easier.

What it does, though, is give you a certain sense of peace, that you are part of the environment, and that you and all your fur friends will have a place in the great communion. I believe to this day that one of our first cats came back to us. Wrote a story about it here, called Catcarnation.

I wish you peace and gratitude for your care and loving respect for this beautiful creature, Piper. My Mom always planted a tree or bush over where we buried our pets. I have kept this custom to this day. I will bury Rascal near the Naseberry tree and plant a plum tree over him.

originally posted by: whyamIhere
I know how difficult it is to bury your precious pet.

In fact we lost our faithful Corgi Bailey last year.

The house was quiet and nobody felt like talking.

I realized that having our pet drew us together.

I decided to end the pain and go get a puppy.

I am happy to report we are back to group hugs.

I believe these babies are God’s greatest gifts.

Look at the love your family has to give.

Please, when you catch your breath get another.

Many could use a loving family.

I also believe with all my heart you will see Piper again.

Nobody can tell me animals don’t have souls.

On your last day I expect Piper to lead you home.

I know I expect a stampede when that day comes.

We still have one cat, she is named Wiffy. She is sixteen years old. She also misses Piper...they would lay on my computer chair together a lot, I have three other chairs...I would push them over to the window and stick another chair there to sit on while on the computer. She has been crying a lot, calling out to Piper to come be with her. She did see him in the coffin, but I think she just thought he had a nice new box to sleep in and wasn't going to leave it to lay with her.

I am surprised how much feelings animals have for each other too. They have friends, and in the case of our cats...they had pets too, they would let the mice out of the live trap...they would not hurt them and it seems like the mice were not afraid of them at all. Our outside cats years ago had their own pet mouse. They let it eat before they did when we put food in their dish. The mouse came running too and often ate first. That mouse in the garage did disappear, maybe they were just fattening it up.

a reply to: argentus

In humans, sulfite oxidase enzyme is needed to both make taurine and utilize taurine. In cats, it is needed to utilize taurine. New cat foods exclude ingredients that contain a cofactor to produce sulfite oxidase...molybdenum cofactors make four crucial enzymes to metabolize foods containing nitrates and sulfites and aldehydes to keep them healthy. That is how I helped Piper with increasing his ability to increase sulfite oxydase enzymes....I supplemented his milk with a sprinkle of a multimineral containing sodium molybdate, twice a day. It also got rid of our other cats seizures. But I did need extra chemistry to help with the coughing to moderate his immune response. I gained that knowledge from the internet plus I also got input about L-lysine from our vet. Milk was inflammatory too, so we had to get organic milk with a high percent of grass feeding or one hundred percent grassfed milk which worked better...it is actually slightly anti-inflamatory, grain fed milk is actually inflammatory.

It just takes a little sprinkle of the multimineral pill twice a day. One tablet lasts two cats about four days. Because the MOCO enzymes are needed to detox multiple chemicals including single carbon, aldehydes, sulfur and nitrogen...the cat needs them because of their high meat based diet. They are taking grains out of cat food these days, even outdoor cats chew on the rye grass tops to get what they need. Cat grass is usually rye.

As I am getting old, it is harder to deal with the death of our pets. I knew a ninety nine year old woman, she said all her friends had died, and almost all of her friends kids had died. She made new friends that were younger, and almost all of them had died. She said it was hard, and she gave up having pets....because they kept dying too. We knocked the cable off her house when we were insulating it, and went in to tell her and use her phone to call the cable company. She told us to tell them she is ninety nine years old and does not have much time left to watch her soap operas...they were there within a half hour to fix her cable. With advanced age comes good knowledge sometimes I guess.

a reply to: rickymouse

I really feel for your loss and totally understand it.
My thing is dogs, and I become so attached to them that when they go, it is a few months of depression.
Yet I will do it all again. For me, life is a series of dogs.

That is real great info on cats that you have supplied and anyone that owns them should save that for sure.
I hope you recover ok and confident you will always have a cat.

a reply to: rickymouse

Ricky, I can't tell you how pleasantly surprised I was at your response. This is exactly the data that I can sink my teeth into. None of the compounds that you listed are available in this wee island nation, however I am already working on how to fabricate some of them. The The enzyme which also includes a heme ring will be a tricky thing to wrangle. You have given me new hope to keep our old boy going a bit longer. I can only hope that I am afforded the same grace when it is my time.

My Dad, who is 90, had his dog die of bone cancer two years ago. His loss almost killed him. He got really low. I couldn't help him as much as I'd have liked because he lives in the mountains about 3500 miles from me. Two weeks ago, my Dad told me he'd gotten a new dog. I was happy for him, but concerned for the dog. I shouldn't have been. He acquired a 10-year-old rescue golden retriever. They can grow older together.

originally posted by: argentus
a reply to: rickymouse

Ricky, I can't tell you how pleasantly surprised I was at your response. This is exactly the data that I can sink my teeth into. None of the compounds that you listed are available in this wee island nation, however I am already working on how to fabricate some of them. The The enzyme which also includes a heme ring will be a tricky thing to wrangle. You have given me new hope to keep our old boy going a bit longer. I can only hope that I am afforded the same grace when it is my time.

My Dad, who is 90, had his dog die of bone cancer two years ago. His loss almost killed him. He got really low. I couldn't help him as much as I'd have liked because he lives in the mountains about 3500 miles from me. Two weeks ago, my Dad told me he'd gotten a new dog. I was happy for him, but concerned for the dog. I shouldn't have been. He acquired a 10-year-old rescue golden retriever. They can grow older together.

By heme ring, are you talking about Porphyrins? A Porphyrin with an Iron center is heme. If the porphyrin ring has a magnesium center, it is chlorophyl. In animals there can be porphyria mutations which inhibit proper hemoglobin creation too. I personally have the AIP type of porphyria, I do not know what kind of porphyria would be giving your cat it's problem. With all porphyrias, diet can be used to dampen the expression of the mutations....or make the symptoms worse if the diet is incorrect. There are eight different steps in the creation of Heme. Step three enzyme genetic reduction can help to protect animals from later misteps like with sunlight sensitivity. But the reduction can give it's share of problems too. Cats can have problems in that third step if I remember right, it limits their diet just like I have to limit some foods to a lower consumption. I do share some genetic traits with cats....that is why my wife married me, she likes cats.