Heavy Traffic Expected on the Rainbow Bridge…

Mylos, in his favourite spot.

This fall, when our youngest leaves for university, my husband and I will become, rather suddenly, empty-nesters. Well, I should say, our nest is empty of human offspring. Our remaining dependents now consist of one ancient, sexually-frustrated cockatiel, four elderly cats, two poodles (smart and healthy, if a little high-strung) and one Cavalier King Charles spaniel with the sweetest temperament ever. (Blank as an unpainted wall, though, our Addie.)

We’re not particularly looking forward to taking over all the pet chores; however, we know it’s time limited. Our two oldest cats, Tabitha and Mylos, are particularly frail.

While Tabi is holding her own, we’ve been treating Mylos for diabetes for several years. He’s now in remission for the second time, but over Christmas, he developed pancreatitis. We didn’t expect him to make it to spring, but he recovered, more or less, with antibiotics. Then he developed hyperthyroidism, and it looks like his pancreatitis is flaring up again. We’ve decided that we won’t let him go through another episode, given his other illnesses, so as soon as we see signs of discomfort, we’ll be walking him to the Rainbow Bridge.

At almost 17, he’s had a long life, but it’s always sad to lose an old friend.