Quotation: Another Concept of Animals

“We need another and a wiser and perhaps a more mystical concept of animals. Remote from universal nature and living by complicated artifice, man in civilization surveys the creature through the glass of his knowledge and sees thereby a feather magnified and the whole image in distortion. We patronize them for their incompleteness, for their tragic fate for having taken form so far below ourselves. And therein do we err. For the animal shall not be measured by man. In a world older and more complete than ours, they move finished and complete, gifted with the extension of the senses we have lost or never attained, living by voices we shall never hear. They are not brethren, they are not underlings: they are other nations, caught with ourselves in the net of life and time, fellow prisoners of the splendour and travail of the earth."
~ "The Outermost House”
― Henry Beston

~~~~~~~
I remember seeing this passage posted on a bulletin board at the Botanical Gardens in Asheville, but I forgot about it until one of my cat-care contacts sent it to me last week. In my present state of mind, I must weigh this quotation against the whole concept of having pets and how we take care of them, but some things are certain as I recall things about Ollie: he offered a window into one of those other nations described by Beston; we had a strong bond, but he had some kind of independent existence; I learned some things from him; he certainly had some "extension of the senses" among his powers.

Carry On, Little Ollie

The Amazing Wonder Cat cavorts last July. I had just come up with this arrangement on the ledge after noticing that he was less willing to negotiate the full height of the ledge visible in the upper right corner of the picture. He continued to enjoy this climbing area and he made a hiding place of the hutch until quite recently.

Ollie ~~ October ?, 2000 - March 24, 2012. Adopted by me, or he adopted me, in October 2002. A treasure and companion to me; a friend to everyone who met him.

I took him to his vet yesterday and let him go. I came so close to bringing him back home again instead of letting it happen -- there were still conflicting signs of his hardiness, appetite and playfulness together with increasing problems caused by the growth of the first tumor. Ollie, I took care of you and let you enjoy your life for another five months, because I love you. I let you go before this thing became too dangerous, because I love you.

Thanks, everyone. Thanks for all the help and support.

Ollie's Spring 2

Ollie on Thursday, March 22. This morning, I no longer have the magic of a cat sitting in my lap while I drink my coffee and eat breakfast. I'm looking through photos of Ollie, and I'd like to share just a couple of them with you here. The house is too weird without him here now, so this is helping. There will be one more post after this one today.

While Ollie snoozes...

Ollie in better times one day in May 2007 shows no fear of his pet carrier. I was preparing to drop him off for boarding again at the Columbia Animal Hospital at Hickory Ridge (or his resort, as it seemed to him) as I went on another road trip. He was always more than delighted to get into his carrier whenever it appeared -- couldn't wait to get into it sometimes. After the cancer showed up last fall, I learned from vet staff members that they used to have a mascot cat named Oliver, and Ollie would chat and play with Oliver through his cage bars. Ollie would even share his food through the bars, kicking the pellets out onto the floor when he saw Oliver coming, to the amusement and dismay of staffers, because Oliver was on a diet. At some point, Oliver passed away, and that must be when Ollie gradually became less enthusiastic about getting into his carrier, although I continue to have relative ease getting him into it.

Last night I was afraid I was going through a nightly routine with Ollie for the last time -- placing food and water in his overnight room, letting him begin the night on my bed, being awakened about an hour later when he was ready to be carried to his room by his human and left there for the rest of the night. How that routine got started is a longer story complete with the little rascal's antics and maneuvers to avoid being shut in for the night. We reached a compromise so that I could get some sleep, too. Well, this routine might continue for a few nights at least. Last night I anticipated taking him to the vet for the final visit today, but I got up around 3:00am to open his door and check on him. I watched with pleasure as he scampered excitedly up and down the stairs (without making a sound, because it was, of course, night time), and then he returned to his room and let me shut him in again while he enjoyed a couple of extra night-time cat treats. This morning I opened his door again to find that he had visited the litter pan and then left some blood and other stains on the carpet -- meanwhile, he's eager to head downstairs for his breakfast. This has become the norm lately, although the blood is more recent.

That's how it is: distress and discomfort in the litter pan but a continuing zeal for living and eating and going outside for supervised play and exploration and rolling and basking in the sun and just being a cat. But the first tumor that started problems last fall is visible on the outside now and causing more problems again. The vet who saw him this weekend is understandably concerned and indicating that it's time or getting very close to time to let Ollie go before something worse happens. But not today. He's not quite the rascal and scamp he once was, but he still carries on. Maybe tomorrow or in a few days.

We've been outside today for more sun, and he's been enjoying food and treats. Right now he's curled up on a favorite bed that I rigged out of an old comforter and towel when trouble started last fall. We've been having the Big Party which I promised to him when I realized last fall that he could continue enjoying life with the right treatment, but that party is almost over.

Ollie's Spring

Ollie carries on this afternoon after an unscheduled visit to the vet this morning. The cancer has begun to defeat remedies which we've been applying since last November.

Life Goes on in Historic Ellicott City

Yesterday afternoon was spent rediscovering Main Street, Ellicott City, with all its antique and boutique shops, galleries and restaurants. I had not visited Main Street for a while, though I was there some time in the last year or two and was aware of some of the new places already. As I use this blog as a portal to things artistic and cultural in the area, here are some Ellicott City links, a couple of which I'll put in the margin later:

ellicottcity.net
Historic Ellicott City, Inc.
The Orchestra of St. John's

Some readers might be intrigued by The Obladi, currently the only hotel in Ellicott City's historic district. It's also a shrine to the Beatles.


(Rather than start a new label, I'm using the Columbia label on this post to cover destinations in or around Howard County and close to Columbia.)