Susie Still Had One Of Her Nine Lives Left

We must learn not to jump to conclusions. This sounds terrible but John and I thought Susie had gone over the rainbow bridge and we were making plans with tears in our eyes. Where we would bury her and in what. Before you judge us I have to explain Susie's personality. She is always very visual. When she hears us driving down the street she runs out onto the drive-way and makes a big circle right in front of us as we drive in. She comes when called, but the last two days she has been hiding in the storage area attached to the garage. We knew she was there as we could hear her but not see her and then she would finally come out to eat a little. She is always by the door to eat when we wake up. This morning she wasn't there and didn't come out to eat. When we got home from the ranch we looked for her and called to no avail. So we discussed the way she has been hiding and not sleeping in the bed she has loved so much this winter. We have known we would have to face her demise maybe sooner then later with her age and sickly condition this winter. I knew I had to face the chore. I backed the car out to make room to drag some of the stuff we hoard out so I could get on hands and knees to see if she was there and hand her over to John for burial. You know I'm dragging my feet, first went the mop and bucket, next was going to be the air compressor, move some window screens. Well I'll call her one more time, Susie Susie. Out walks Susie from underneath all that junk. Not spry, not healthy looking, not wanting to eat heartily, but slow and stiff. I left the garage door open and she went to sit in the sun for a while and then she did eat a little. You may ask why I don't take her to the vet. In the first place she is very old. In the second place she gets very hyper when anyone tries to pick her up and putting her in a cage would scare her very badly and perhaps make her worse. So as long as she has some lives left we will make her as comfortable as we can.