Hoofprints: Jasmine

Eleven years ago this past May 22 in 2006, a tiny kitten and her brother and sister were fighting for their lives in the cruel world that is known as the country. Being a barn cat was what they were going to know and all their mama had ever known. But that all changed when their mama died and I took them in. I never thought that I would have seen eleven years with any of them. That's how horribly off they were. My vet is always telling me that those kittens, in all rights, should have died. She said that she doesn't believe anyone would have gotten this far but me. And try, I did.

July 24th of this year, the fight had to end for our beloved Jasmine. From the very beginning of her life, she was a fighter at heart. She was the ruler of our roost and put every single cat in their place. She was the alpha and all who crossed her, knew it. She started out tiny and helpless, but she fought like a tiger until the very end of her life...and I fought right beside her. When we lost Penny a year before this, I was certain that Jasmine would have been the first to leave us. But she proved us all wrong. She was diagnosed with the same condition as her sister - hyperthyroidism. When once upon a time, she was one of the fattest cats in the house, she began to throw up daily for years.Then she began to get bowel issues which made her stinky all the time. We loved her anyways and Josh called her Stinky. Had I known the signs earlier, I would have given her a better chance, but I just couldn't have guessed. She lost weight despite her ravenous appetite and I didn't understand it.

Right after Penny passed, I promised Alex, who was her favorite human (she chose him), that I would do everything in my power to keep her alive and happy. Things got worse for her, but no matter how many times she went downhill, she fought twice as hard to come back. Our vet kept saying, "she may be skinny, but she's super happy and her quality of life is still high." In May, just days before her birthday, I was certain it was her time, but once again, she said no - not yet. At her end, she was being fed up to ten times a day, a special diet I had to mix up each time, and cooked chicken breast for snacks. Medicine consistently and all the accidents she had from her failing bowels, finally were catching up with her. She got down to barely four pounds and was a ghost of her former self and I knew that the trip to the vet that day would not end well. The kids were broken - again. I feel like my kids have a broken heart consistently once a year. It hurts.

In all the times I took Jasmine to the vet, I came back ever the hero with her in my arms and a happy group of kids. This time, even I knew that I couldn't help her further. I started crying the instant our vet walked in the room. I knew...she knew...Jasmine knew. The hardest part was that when I had my moment with her to say goodbye, she began purring and rubbing on me. She had been so sick for the past three days that she barely wanted to walk let alone purr, so this broke my already shattering heart. I think she may have been telling me goodbye. She fell asleep in my arms and I let her go. The vet said it was instantaneous. But the hole she leaves in my heart will take years to mend.

Alex was broken. Abby was broken. Evie was broken. Josh was broken. The queen joined her sister in Heaven and left behind one of the luckiest families in the whole world. We got to be her humans for eleven years and we will miss her always and forever. She also left behind a confused brother who looked for her for weeks. I don't care how much I had to fight for her...I will cherish her always. Rest easy Jasmine baby...we love you always.