@slcwatt55 @Nancy_818
Greetings from the void I disappeared intoāand may continue to dwell in until mid-March.
S, I skimmed through some of the messages before typing this, and you asked if I was planning to give up reading for Ramadan and to let you know so you wouldnāt worry. Iām sorry if my absence caused you distress. I do tend to fall off the face of the earth during Ramadan, but, I had planned to keep in touch and maybe read here and there if possible.
But my complete absence wasnāt really b/c of Ramadanāit was b/c of Oriās treatment. I was absolutely stressed and burned out to the point that I couldnāt even bring myself to check WP or any other platform. It was a constant battle every day, watching her go from good, to bad, to worse.
And with extreme difficulty, Iām letting you know that she passed away last night, wrapped in her favourite red blanket, in my momās arms. I think you also asked how old she was. Ori was just 2.5 years old.
She was barely 20 days old when she was abandoned outside my buildingāa tiny little thing who had cried herself hoarse all day for her mom until MY mom finally found her at around 9:30 pm on 9/25/25. And she breathed her last at 9:30 pm as well. I spent that first night awake, feeding her milk diluted with water because we didnāt have kitten formula and no outlets were delivering that late. And in her last days, too, I stayed up again, force-feeding her.
When she first came to us, her mewl made no sound because she had cried herself hoarse. It took a good three months for her to start meowing again, in the tiniest little voice. For the most part, she was a quiet little thingāwith a solid temper. In her last days, she would stand at the door waiting to be let out(she wanted to go away and die in solitary,) and meow in her loudest voice. A painful, full circle.
Thank you both for rooting for Ori and for asking for updates, even though I only just saw those messages. Iām sorry I wasnāt better about keeping you up to date.
