It hasn't even been three weeks

And I know I shouldn't expect it any other way, but I miss Ziggy.
She was so much a part of my day, and daily routine.  She would climb up onto the arm of my chair, and from behind, tap me on the should when she wanted something.  I would open the window, and she would hop up on the sill to look outside.  She also had a special set of meows for "Feed me", "I'm bored, let's play", "Hey, this is in my way!" (when she wanted in the closet) and she would dig at her sofa tent when it wasn't arranged to her liking, or if she wanted her wheat bags heated up.

I was cleaning my office, and my eyes kept getting drawn to the spots she would normally be, and it was like a twist in my guts.  I took a toy and put it under the blanket on the sofa, where Ziggy used to sleep. Her 'sofa tent'. It's a mind fake, but at least it stops the hurt for a little while.

I had one rather unfeeling person just say "Get another cat."  (and yes, it was unfeeling, as the person went on to say one cat is pretty much like another).  I was polite, and said "Thank you, but no thanks."

Non-pet owners don't understand. It's not just losing an animal. It's losing a member of your family.  Pardon me while I go cry for a while... again.

Ziggy is home.

Brett from Lawnswood brought Ziggy home yesterday afternoon.
I’m now wearing the sealed locket containing a bit of her fur.
Also, they went a bit extra, and not only brought her home, brought some of her fur home for us, too.
Much crying has and is being done.

Yes, funeral arrangements for our beloved cat

Have made arrangements for Ziggy's remains to be cremated and placed in an appropriate urn. Will have some of her ashes sealed in a locket, and some of her fur also sealed in another locket. Some of her ashes will be placed in a lined velvet bag, which will be buried in her favorite spot in the yard.
 
This was Ziggy before she was ill, and this is how I want to remember her.

Thank you, Lawnswood, for all your assistance.

Ziggy is gone

At 10:17pm, September 4th, 2019, Ziggy was helped across the rainbow bridge.  She had been rallying but she took a sudden down turn, was laboring to breathe.  Took her to emergency Vet, and ultra sound showed her cancer had progressed to the point that it was only the fresh O2 feed keeping her oxygenated.  Move the O2 and she would start gasping with her mouth open again.
It was time.
We made the heartbreaking choice, while she was purring, alert and calm, to help her cross.  We all spent some time with her, and when she was given a relaxing sedative, her head drooped, and she stopped breathing. She had been breathing from sheer force of her will. When she was given the sleep shot, it took took less than 2 second for her heart to stop. She was ready. 
We gave her g’bye cuddles, whispered in her ear how much we loved her.
Heartbroken now. I see her things, like her basket, empty.  I’m going to have to do something to remove these reminders, or I will be crying every few minutes.

Ziggy had a seizure

Ziggy just had an episode of thrashing around, as if in a panic. Then she was gasping for air, as if she couldn't breathe. I managed to get her untangled from the computer cords, as this happened while she was on the towel covered box on the battery back up.

She ok, or as ok as she can be right now, but we needed to have her seen by the vet.

Vet said it was an idiopathic seizure. And since it's not happening all the time, and that she is bright and alert (even though with all our feeding her she's still losing weight) and eating, drinking, walking around, using her litter box, she will be with us for a while longer.
When we got home, I warmed a plate, cut up some beef on the warm plate so it wouldn't cook, and carried it into the room where she was. She poked her head out of the top of the basket and YOWLED to be fed. Ate everything, and tube treat! Yeah, she will be here for a while longer. Just weeks, but it will have to be enough.

When  she can't get around on her own, or starts soiling herself, and refusing to eat anything.... then it will be 'that time'.

It took about 2 hours of trial and error

Because On1 no longer uses the same authentication service, some really great OnOne tools that didn't make their way into the latest versions of On1 PhotoRaw could no longer be installed. 

This really sucks because OnOne Focal Point was the best DOF plugin I had ever tried.  And this is coming form someone who has AlienSkin Bokeh 3!  So, even though I have Windows 10 up and running properly (so far so good) I can't install the OnOne suite that had Focal Point on the Win10 boot drive.  Nor could I install PhotoTools Professional on the Win 10 boot drive.  Good thing for me I have them installed on the Windows 7 boot drive.

But here's the conundrum: One the Windows 7 drive, there is something in the latest On1 plugins that won't let the older plugins work.  If I pulled the On1PhotoRaw plugins out of the Photoshop plugin directory, the older OnOne plugins worked.  So, it became a case of trial and error juggling these four OnOne/On1 products between Adobe CS6E and Adobe CC:

On1 PhotoRaw 2019
Perfect PhotosSuite 5.5.4
Perfect PhotoSuite 9
PhotoTools 2.6 Professional.

This is what I finally got.

Adobe CS6E: I can use Focal Point 2, PhotoTools 2.6, and just On1 PhotoRaw 2019 Develop plugins.  Doesn't matter I don't have the On1 Portrait or Effects plugin, because when you launch the Develop one, you can just click on over to Effects, Portrait, or Local adjustments.  But I can't use any of the Resizing plugins.  That's ok, I can use AlienSkin BlowUp.

Adobe CC:  I can use Focal Point 2, PhotoTools 2.6, On1 PhotoRaw Develop and Effects plugins.  BUT I can also use all the Perfect PhotoSuite 9 plugins, including Perfect Resize.  Yay, go me.

Now, this is if I am using Adobe Bridge and Adobe Camera Raw. Yes, even though On1PhotoRaw is wonderful, I import the finished image into Photoshop, and there are plugins/tools I have there that On1PhotoRaw just doesn't have.

Part of me wants to upgrade my Win 7 boot drive to Windows 10 just to see if those plugins will still work, but, I am going to err on the side of caution (even though I have a clone of the Win 7 drive as a back up) and since it ain't broken, I'm not going to fix it.  If I have to stay with Windows 7 to do photo editing, so be it. 

Nerdz Ruul!

Keito, two plus weeks post op

He's definitely put some weight back on. He no longer has bony face/cheeks.  Also, his back doesn't feel like a stegosaurus, meaning weight gain. Called South Street Vet to postpone Keito's fructosamine test, as he was at the vet overnight a few times the past month, and his BGLs were fine.  Since we are concentrating on his having Chemo, the fructosamine test can wait.

Ziggy still has her cough, but it's not as severe.  The Bisolvon works to break up the mucus, but turns her into a very sleepy cat.  And when that happens Wing wrings his hands in worry.  Today, Ziggy has only had one coughing episode, and it was over in less than a minute.  If she has another, we will dose her with the Bisolvon, and she will end up sleeping the night through.  As long as she isn't in any discomfort, is eating, drinking, and doing other cat things, she will stay with us.  We know time is limited, but we will love her as long as she is with us.