This is a blog where I will post about my experiences with being autistic. I invite others to do the same as well as ask me any questions or for advice. PLEASE ADD YOURSELF AS A FOLLOWER! :)
Sunday, March 22, 2026
What My Pets Taught Me About Mercy
Thanks for coming! I'm gradually moving my blog to Substack! You can check out this post here!
Nearly twenty-five years ago my cat Timmy [who had lived with me for eleven and a half years by August 2001, when he was to die] suffered, like Neptune is suffering, from kidney disease.
We did not go the prescription diet route - though there was some medication by the time we found his kidneys were dysfunctional.
I hope Neptune has a good death when that time comes.
Yes: kidney disease - in felines and in people - is very unpredictable!
I did not know Smoky when he was alive; Ditmas a little bit.
And thinking about living indefinitely and being indestructible.
I thought we were eminently and imminently destructible [vincible].
Had not read EVERLASTING TUCK though I might have heard about its movie or possibly a teenage show. I thought there was only one TUCK and not a family as you had described.
Relief after suffering is a big thing; and it is not always available to everybody.
Sometimes people pre-grieve [when the person or animal or living thing] is still living; dying but not dead yet.
No, you couldn't have kept Ditmas alive like that - when two of her major organs [heart and brain] were failing.
Glad you and the vet were able to keep Ditmas comfortable while she was dying - and having a long relationship with a veterinarian or vet assistant is a great and beautiful thing.
And, yes, the finity of life is what often brings on suffering.
I have been commenting here and there on the blog since 2011 [and certainly during the time it was on the Autism Blogs Directory].
Did Ditmas and Neptune have an overlapping time together? [the early-2000s dates do not quite make sense].
[and then I go through and think that Ditmas lived and died in the mid-to-late 2000s].
She had such a short time, really.
And back in the early 1990s Australians, too, were starting to really think about euthanasia.
It was even done, briefly, in the Northern Territory, by one doctor - before the law was changed back.
Various states also have voluntary assisted euthanasia - for people who have been terminally ill for 12 months - and not for people who have dementia and/or mental health conditions they could recover from in the 12-month limit.
And for her having to travel a whole Borough of New York City - the stress might have hastened things. [especially when it comes to clots and thrombosis - if it took her from *heart disease* to *severe* heart disease...]
I see, too, that I twisted around the EVERLASTING and the TUCK.
I do know the author Natalie Babbitt.
And when you were writing articles in the AUTISM DIGEST...
Ahhh wow, OK. Ditmas died in 2007, and Neptune was born around them. Technically they overlapped but they never met. Anyway, I'm actually in the process of revising the best of my blog posts and moving them to Substack. Since I want to keep them mostly in the correct order, I'm going to post one or two more new posts here, and after that everything will be on Substack. In any case, you should go check it out there, and you'll see some of my revised posts! http://julieesris.substack.com
Just beautiful and heartbreaking. A mature, insightful look at suffering and death.
ReplyDeleteNearly twenty-five years ago my cat Timmy [who had lived with me for eleven and a half years by August 2001, when he was to die] suffered, like Neptune is suffering, from kidney disease.
ReplyDeleteWe did not go the prescription diet route - though there was some medication by the time we found his kidneys were dysfunctional.
I hope Neptune has a good death when that time comes.
Yes: kidney disease - in felines and in people - is very unpredictable!
I did not know Smoky when he was alive; Ditmas a little bit.
And thinking about living indefinitely and being indestructible.
I thought we were eminently and imminently destructible [vincible].
Had not read EVERLASTING TUCK though I might have heard about its movie or possibly a teenage show. I thought there was only one TUCK and not a family as you had described.
Relief after suffering is a big thing; and it is not always available to everybody.
Sometimes people pre-grieve [when the person or animal or living thing] is still living; dying but not dead yet.
No, you couldn't have kept Ditmas alive like that - when two of her major organs [heart and brain] were failing.
Glad you and the vet were able to keep Ditmas comfortable while she was dying - and having a long relationship with a veterinarian or vet assistant is a great and beautiful thing.
And, yes, the finity of life is what often brings on suffering.
Wait, you say you knew Ditmas a little bit? Where do I know you from that you met her?
DeleteMore like know of Ditmas.
DeleteI have been commenting here and there on the blog since 2011 [and certainly during the time it was on the Autism Blogs Directory].
Did Ditmas and Neptune have an overlapping time together? [the early-2000s dates do not quite make sense].
[and then I go through and think that Ditmas lived and died in the mid-to-late 2000s].
She had such a short time, really.
And back in the early 1990s Australians, too, were starting to really think about euthanasia.
It was even done, briefly, in the Northern Territory, by one doctor - before the law was changed back.
Various states also have voluntary assisted euthanasia - for people who have been terminally ill for 12 months - and not for people who have dementia and/or mental health conditions they could recover from in the 12-month limit.
And for her having to travel a whole Borough of New York City - the stress might have hastened things. [especially when it comes to clots and thrombosis - if it took her from *heart disease* to *severe* heart disease...]
I see, too, that I twisted around the EVERLASTING and the TUCK.
I do know the author Natalie Babbitt.
And when you were writing articles in the AUTISM DIGEST...
Ahhh wow, OK. Ditmas died in 2007, and Neptune was born around them. Technically they overlapped but they never met. Anyway, I'm actually in the process of revising the best of my blog posts and moving them to Substack. Since I want to keep them mostly in the correct order, I'm going to post one or two more new posts here, and after that everything will be on Substack. In any case, you should go check it out there, and you'll see some of my revised posts! http://julieesris.substack.com
DeleteThanks for being a loyal follower! :)