In Memory of Nica, our Beloved Cat who died on October 20, 1997 at age 9.

Her name was Nica and she was a sealpoint Siamese who always had something to say. She was named for a countess named Nica who was a patron of musicians. She has a song named for her called "Nica's Dream". It is a very beautiful song. If you are ever listening to a jazz band, ask them to play it. It is a lovely, haunting song and is a great honor both to our cat and to the original Nica. I would appreciate it very much if you would.

Nica died on October 20, 1997. Every night when we went to bed she jumped up on my chest and head butted me while I tried to read. She liked to go outside and then she would lead us a merry chase trying to get her back in. She would walk just out of reach so we would have to follow her around until finally we'd just stand there and she would walk down the sidewalk and lay down and roll around waiting to be petted and then we'd grab her. She was friends with everyone and was very social. She loved to tease Frap, who just hated it, but they agreed to share the bed at night, Nica on my side and Frap on Sean's. She was a happy cat who never seemed to worry about things much.

I guess we never expected her to die before FrapTap. She was the baby of our cat family. Frap is 13 and I worry that she is getting old. Nica has always seemed so much younger, still a kitten almost. She hardly seemed like she had grown up yet, she was so full of "piss and vinegar". Frap seems so much older and wiser. Nica was still the kind of cat to rush headlong into life. Frap is reserved and a little wary (like we all get as we get older). Nica had that wonderful naivete' that let her take a knock and get up and come back without hesitation or fear.

I know and expect our animals to die before us. It makes it a little easier since I think any pet owner hopefully has that understanding before they accept the responsibility of a pet and I have had many pets that have died (as they do). But it is still sad and a shock, especially when it is sudden and she was the younger, healthier, onery one that we didn't really worry about like we did for our "old lady" of the house. And I know that FrapTap (our older cat) will die pretty soon too although she is very healthy at the moment since she is 13 and will not live forever. Actually, she is beating the odds on my cats lives. For some reason, 9 years old seems to be when several of my cats have died. I don't worry so much about her dying, as I do about how well we take care of her when she needs us and is sick or dying. We did pretty well with Nica (not perfect, but I do not feel bad about it - we were there with her and did the best we could, she could have died alone and I would have felt very bad about that). She got ill very suddenly and was actually dying before we even had a chance to do much more than take her to the emergency animal clinic and get some x-rays and some medicine to tide her over until we could get her to our regular vet in the morning (it happened at about 1am).

Given just a little more time, we would have put her to sleep and eased her out of life more gently than she went. But she died before we had that chance. It was quick and we were there and that was all we could do. She had advanced Feline Infectious Peritonitis. It was probably best that we did not find it sooner as she would probably have suffered through our trying to diagnosis and correct the problem with painful and futile treatments as it is a fatal disease. Only the autopsy revealed the actual reason for her death, although we knew she had lung failure and fluid around her heart.

Hopefully, Frap has not gotten it from her. I guess the chances are less than 1 in 10 and we are having her vaccinated for it now. And I think it is possible that we might have had her vaccinated for it when she was young. They rarely vaccinate cats for it as it is a rare disease, but I think we might have heard of it and had it done when she was a kitten. I hope so.

My last cat, DoLord, got cancer of the thyroid and I was lucky enough to be able to keep her comfortable until she started having pain and then our vet came to our house and put her to sleep there on the bed with us there so she was feeling relaxed and at home. He even brought a priest! Actually, that was just because we called him on a Sunday evening and he and the priest were having dinner together so he came with him. We have a very compassionate vet and we lucky for that.

Nica was SO different from my cat, Frap. But Frap is a whole other story, and I will write her story later. For now I will just say, "Goodbye, Nica. We love you and miss you very much. I hope you having a wonderful time, wherever you are."