Sageti has died.

[helen99]

When I adopted Sassua almost a year ago, I had intended it to be a temporary fostering until she could be transferred to a permanent home. The original plan had been to give her to a friend who had expressed interest. However, that never happened because I wanted to do the ingrown claw surgery first. The ingrown claw surgery got put off until very recently, though, and meanwhile that person found a stray kitten and took her in. Then I tried to give her to aekiy, but as he doesn't know where he's going to be staying or what finances will actually be like once he leaves here, he didn't feel right about taking on that responsibility right now. So... Here I was with this cat. I love her, but I already have four cats (who don't necessarily get along with her very well), and I also kept getting the feeling she didn't actually belong to me exactly. Of course I wouldn't dump her or give her to someone I didn't know. Meanwhile she planted herself on the top step leading to the upstairs where rialian lives. We'd thought she just found that area comfortable and safe to sleep, and we were actually a little annoyed at having to step over her enormous girth every time we tried to go up and down the stairs (it made it kind of dangerous). But it turned out she had something else altogether in mind.

Meanwhile, about a week ago, rialian's cat Sageti passed on (he said it was ok to mention it at this point - some may know this already). It was rather sudden and unexpected - he seemed healthy enough, and his fur was glossy and he hadn't lost any weight. This past year he had seemed to slow down a little, but nothing notceable or alarming (and he was 12 years old, so we thought it was 'normal' for his age). But one day, he was just ... gone. It was very much like Sageti, actually. He had lived his life very quietly and in the background, content to follow rialian from room to room while he was upstairs, and to sleep while people were out or downstairs. The second floor of the house was his territory, as he really didn't like the other cats (except Oosie, who is aerodynamic and not confinable to any one part of the house). At night, he would jump up on the bed and purr, and during the day he would sleep in a cool spot by the chair. We found him by the chair - apparently he had passed in his sleep.

A week after he passed on, Sassua arose from her perch at the top of the stairs. Someone had momentarily opened the stairway gate that we had installed to guard Sageti's territory. Like a large white mist, she slipped in unnoticed and quietly took over the upstairs. She has mostly been upstairs ever since, only coming down to say hello once in a while. My cats are not displeased...

Thus have I finally found a home for Sassua, rialian's new cat...

Comments

[kiarrith.livejournal.com]

wow, smart cat. *hugs*

[helen99.livejournal.com]

Her prime directive has always been world domination...

[dancinglights.livejournal.com]

I'm really sorry to hear about Sageti. I hope Sassua helps you and Ri deal with his loss... seems like she's determined to already.

[helen99.livejournal.com]

She's around the same shape and their names both start with "Sa"... They were both found stray at around the same age, and they both had scratching and biting problems when first found but then settled down to being very affectionate cats. I never really bonded with either of them though I cared for them, but Ri bonded with both of them.. Seemed to work out very well...

[dogemperor.livejournal.com]

Demi passed on in rather similar (and sudden) fashion...and four months later Kali practically showed up on our doorstep (and LITERALLY showed up in the case of our friends, who called us).

Funny how kitties show up when they know they'll be needed :3

[helen99.livejournal.com]

Heh! They will use whatever avenue is available to get to your location, too (friends, a stranger dumps them in your yard, roommates, etc.).. In Sassua's case I found her in a cage at PetSmart, who has an adoption center with the local SPCA. She had a respiratory infection and ingrown claws and the works. I couldn't leave her there since I didn't think they'd be willing to spring for the vet bills. The rest is history...

[ebonhost.livejournal.com]

I'm so sorry to hear about Sageti... I remember him sleeping next to me when I came to visit before my first Threshholds. Please pass on my condolences and hugs to Rialian, and I am very glad that Sassua has attached to him.

[helen99.livejournal.com]

Thanks, I will do that.. I will miss his taciturn old self. He was a sweetie.

[hummingwolf.livejournal.com]

My condolences.

I'm glad Sassua knows where she belongs.

[helen99.livejournal.com]

She is remarkably similar to Sageti in temperament, and seems to enjoy the upstairs. She demands to sleep on Rialian's bed and head-butts him until he pets her, so I guess she's made a good choice!

[stardansr.livejournal.com]

My condolences.

[helen99.livejournal.com]

Thanks.. He was a good cat. Powerful too. He singlehandedly destroyed the carpet upstairs by peeing on it. No, I didn't murder the poor thing - I stuck with him till the end. Looking back, he may have had a UTI that went untreated because we're idiots. I should have taken him to the vet long ago.

[fearadyn.livejournal.com]

What a heart wrenching story~Wonderful tho that Sassua acted on what she knew was needed. But now she has become queen of her domain, this one must be very happy!

[helen99.livejournal.com]

She is a lot happier and more affectionate than she was before. When I first got her she was crabby even though I kept her in my room separated because of her cold. It could have been because of her recent experiences with being stray and then caged, but I think she also likes guys better...

[aloyen.livejournal.com]

My condolences and congrats simultaneously. Maybe she's always been there for that reason. (As I hear Vorlons in my head...)

[helen99.livejournal.com]

Thanks! As long as you don't smell Vorlons in the air, we're probably ok...

[laurelindel.livejournal.com]

That is good... I had a dream last night that Rialian had found a new cat, a white female, but in the dream I didn't recognize her as Sassua.

[laurelindel.livejournal.com]

Good about Sassua... not Sageti.

[helen99.livejournal.com]

That's pretty cool! The name Rialian originally gave her was H'sah. That became Sassua, partially because I had thought aekiy might want her and he came up with that name, and also because it was easier to pronounce. But now who knows - it might gravitate back to H'sah, now that she's chosen who she wants to be with. Maybe that's why the name Sassua didn't occur in the dream. Either way I'll probably call her "Sah-Sah-Belle" or "The Planet Tattulyne", though, so it doesn't matter to me... Do you remember any more of the dream?

[laurelindel.livejournal.com]

OK, that is strange. All I remember of the dream was that I was talking to Rialian in the living room and he said, "I have another cat" or "I have found another cat", or "I found a new cat" and we went upstairs, and sitting upstairs - I don't remember which room - there was a white cat with a single black spot on its back.

He said her name, which I didn't remember anything of other than the fact that it began with an "H" sound and ended with an "ah" sound, and it was a name I'd never heard before.

[helen99.livejournal.com]

She hasn't a black hair on her body, but she does have a shaved patch on her back toward the left side because of that morphine patch they put on her when she had her ingrown claws removed. That thing caused more damage than the claw removal. It's taken this long for the bare area left by removing the tape and residual tape gunk (ouch!) to finally cover over with a thin layer of hair which will hopefully soon grow out. I think a thin layer of skin was removed along with the tape. The healed and peach-fuzzed shaved area looked slightly darker/more pinkish than the surrounding bright white fur - it's lightening as the hair grows back.

[helen99.livejournal.com]

She's lucky she didn't get stuck with the name I gave her when I first got her - nobody (including me) could pronounce it: "Hatshepsut". I kept mispronouncing it "Hap-she-put". "Susu" is much easier...