Good Bye!

We had to say farewell to our sweet girl Dott. She was ill, injured and suffering and we couldn't let her continue like that. Over the past month she'd become a lot less active and in the last two weeks she started having weakness in her hind legs. She took a tumble down some of the stairs and was unable to use her rear legs at all. We made the tough decision to have her euthanized this past Wednesday.

I'd rather not think of those things, instead I'll remember her funny ways:

Her constant need to be petted, which if we quit, she would continue by doing walk-bys and head-butting our hands.

Chasing and playing with wrapped cough drops (cheapest toys ever) but not eating them.

waking us up in the middle of the night spinning her ball in its ring or chasing dust bunnies through the hallway.

Escaping the love of the kids - only to chase after them when they finally gave up.

I'll remember that she was silky soft, with lovely blue eyes and a very regal attitude, she was "Princess" Dott after all.

Dott was born in May either 19 or 20 years ago. She was almost completely white, with a small dot of dark on her nose. We - with the help of my sisters - called her Dott because of this and we had nicknamed her "Splinter" because she looked a little rat-like as a new kitten and reminded Mary (Cody) of the ninja master in the cartoon Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. As she grew and her color started to change, her dot disappeared and left behind it a "smear" of white prompting Cody to start calling her "Smear". These were the early days of Princess Dott. She was then and remained regal and outgrew her silly nicknames.

Dottie was not a mere princess by the time she neared 20 or 21 years old, she had been crowned Queen and she received all the treatments of royalty in her final years.

Fare Well sweet girl!