Kira

Kira had a long and happy life. I discovered her soon after the untimely death of my third cat, Isis, when visiting Chesapeake Animal Control. She caught my eye with her unique dilute grey tortoise-shell coat and striking green eyes. She was a very friendly kitten, estimated date of birth to be March 2005, and I took her home with me on Sept 13, 2005. She grew up to be an average 9 pounds and was the softest cat I have ever petted. She lived with me and Boomer (my second cat, who died in 2010), and then Zach (my fourth).

Late in life she had been inexplicably losing weight for two years, to which the vet attributed to mostly her age. I worked hard every day coaxing her to eat and trying many different foods. Occasionally I would resort to a forced-feeding when she barely ate and she would snap back into eating again. The efforts increased over the last several months as she ate less and less and lost more and more weight. She was also stiff and had difficulty with ambulation. By mid-July she was eating almost nothing and I was force-feeding her daily. On Aug 18 I had to start confining her to the hall bathroom 24/7 due to multiple accidents and her quality of life diminished greatly. At another vet on 8/26/2023, it was confirmed that any measures I would take would likely not produce reasonable results or improve her quality of life and euthanasia was recommended and performed.

She added a great deal of joy to my life, and I will miss her terribly.