Tina Turner Howard

Monday, December 29th, we lost our 11-year old cat Tina.

Tina was a real trooper. We got her when she was just a tiny abandoned kitten, and we had to feed her milk through a syringe. She apparently took to that, because she ended up loving food....she weighed about 20 pounds. One time, she fell in between the attic floors, and we had to bust a hole in the ceiling to pull her out! About 7 years ago, she broke her back 2 days before Thanksgiving. We thought we'd lose her then, but she was a fighter! She was in a kitty wheelchair for awhile (completely as dumb as it sounds!). But eventually, she taught herself how to walk again, although she was never able to jump. She sure did know how to get around...quickly if necessary!

In the last few weeks, though, she had begun to shut down. She'd lost several pounds, and had stopped eating. Last week, we noticed that she could no longer pull herself up to stand. She had developed a cough and we could tell that she didn't feel good at all. So we decided to take her to the vet.

The vet said that her liver and kidneys were failing, and that she'd never be able to walk or stand again. That is no life for any animal. So we had to make the difficult decision to end her suffering.

We've never had a cat as loving or sweet as Tina.....we miss her greatly.