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Jill Nicholson
11/22/2005
Descriptive Essay
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I have a cat, Leonard, and I love him dearly. The problem is that he’s not the same as he used to be. Most cats live to be about 11 or 12. Sometimes you’ll hear of a fourteen-year-old cat. Leonard? He’s really old. He was born in 1988, so Leonard is now 17—almost 18. According to an age chart from my veterinarian, Leonard is equal to about 112 in human years. That’s ancient! |
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My mother used to call Leonard handsome, but now she says he looks like a cartoon of an old, sick stray cat. He is very skinny; in fact, you can see his ribs and hip bones poking out under his skin. Yes, you could call him bony or even skeletal—not the fat, soft fuzzy guy I knew so long ago. Moreover, he has ratty fur which is thin in places, and he doesn’t keep it neat like when he was younger. He doesn’t have much fur on his feet, either. There are bald spots around his ankles where it’s all worn off. Also, Leonard used to be shiny, silky black. Now he’s got white hair around his mouth and nose, and all over his body. He looks like a little old man; a skinny, frail, fragile old man. |
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He also behaves like an old man. He just wants to sleep and sit near the heat. He’s not very active anymore, and he has no interest in playing and running. He doesn’t even care about birds and mice anymore. When I’m home, he is always with me. He cries until I sit down, then he just sits on my lap. That’s all he wants—to sit on my lap and be warm. Even more than that, he likes to be in a warm bed. I wake up often in the middle of the night to find Leonard fighting to get under the blankets. Once inside, he snuggles next to me and purrs until he falls asleep. Although he’s been doing this nightly routine for sixteen years, he seems to enjoy it more than ever now. I think he must sleep 20 hours or more a day.
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The saddest thing for me is that Leonard’s body functions like a very, very old man’s. He moves very slowly. It takes him a long time to sit down. Sometimes he has no interest in his food, and often when he eats, it makes him sick, so he throws up. He also isn’t as neat as he used to be with his kitty litter. I think that’s because he doesn’t have total control over his old body anymore. It’s giving up on him, and there’s not much he or I can do about it, except clean the floor—a lot.
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I don’t know how much longer Leonard will live. It doesn’t matter if he is old if he is happy and comfortable, but I’m afraid he might not be for long. I don’t care if he looks old if he feels good, but he is more and more often appearing to have health problems, especially with his digestion. I don’t know what to do about Leonard. He has had a long, happy life, but I may have to make a very difficult decision soon.
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