Meatball

We’re officially in Ecuador, but more on that later because we’re officially in Ecuador without Meatball.

Meatball has been with me since 2010 when I adopted her after she was abandoned in the parking lot of an apartment complex in Greenville, North Carolina. It was love at first sight! Well, for me, at least. 😂 Meatball took a little time to warm up to me, spending most of her first few weeks hiding under my bed. I remember inviting people over to see my new cat and having them lay on the floor with me to stare at her snoozin’ in the most unreachable spot. Which is actually how she got her name…

I had been testing out a few names. The guy that found her wanted to call her Wendy. Didn’t love that. I had been testing out Spaghetti, but when my friend, Andrew, came over to see her, he took one look at her chunks flubbed out under the bed and said, “She’s not a Spaghetti, she’s a Meatball!” And so, Meatball she became.

As you might imagine, we intended to bring Meatball with us to Ecuador, and we had been preparing to make sure she had all her necessary treatments, vaccines, and health checks. I intended on writing a post about “How to take your cat to Ecuador,” given all the hoops we were jumping through. On Monday, a week before we were flying, I took her to the vet for her final vaccine appointment and blood draw (poor kitty had thyroid problems and needed it checked). It was a tough appointment for her because of the blood draw, but the vet didn’t seem to think she would be anything other than a little more sleepy, which was accurate. We didn’t think anything of it. Later, in the middle of the night, I woke up to Meatball having a seizure at the end of the bed. I’ll spare the details, but it was violent and scary, and we had absolutely no clue what was going on. When it was over, we just had a feeling – this might be our last night with Meatball.

The next morning we took her to the vet as soon as they opened, but the vet couldn’t find anything physically wrong with her. I compared it to when your check engine light comes on, and you take it to the mechanic, and then it goes off again. Once you leave the shop, then it comes right back on. That’s what happened. We got home, Shane went to work, and she had another seizure. So, we made an appointment with an emergency clinic, but by the time we got there she had had another one and was basically unresponsive. So, we walked out of the clinic on Tuesday, September 7, 2021, 6 days before our move, without our Meatball.

Needless to say, we never expected this scenario.

If anything, we were concerned about bringing her back to Munich from Ecuador, she was 16 years old, but we never expected to leave Germany without her. And to that end, yes. She was 16, but what could we do? We certainly weren’t going to abandon her in Germany.

So, our excitement for moving was quite muted, given the situation. Now that we’re here, it still doesn’t really feel real. It still feels like we’re on vacation, so of course, Meatball wouldn’t be with us!

But enough with the sad. I’m tired of crying. Instead, I’d like to tell you a few fun facts about Meatball that you probably didn’t know.

She couldn’t resist paper.

What. a. sucker!

I got a lot of enjoyment in setting “paper traps” for this cat. Once, in the Netherlands, we received an ungodly amount of paper shoved into an uncecessarily large Amazon box, so I made a paper trail starting at Meatball on our bed all the way to her blanket on the couch in the living room to see what she would do. That sucker TOOK THE BAIT and walked on the paper the entire way from one spot to the next. 😂

She was musically inclined.

Meatball was an underground rapper who went by Meatbeezy. She was also a Taylor Swift connoisseur. Her favorite song was ‘Wonderland,’ a bonus track on the 1989 album.

She loved selfies.

Comes with the celebrity, I guess.

She instantly loved Shane.

This was a point of contention in our house often ending with me pleading to her “but I adopted you! Love meeee!” Shane said it wasn’t his fault she loved him more. She was just looking for a strong male role model. 😐

She only tolerated two other animals in our time together: Heathclifford and Luna.

She tolerated them as long as they didn’t try to get on the bed. That was off-limits. Plus, Luna is a big ‘ole chicken-dog when it comes to cats. We always had to make sure that Meatball didn’t torment Luna by sitting directly in front of her food bowl or blocking the hallway.

An old kitty CAN learn new tricks!

She was hesitant at first, but once we got her going, that kitty loved to ramp! She would ramp in the morning, ramp for treats, ramp to look down over you and judge…

Finally, like most kitties…

She couldn’t get enough love.

If you were next to her on the couch…. pets. On the bed… pets. Looked at her for too long? … well, obviously you must want to give some pets. Naturally, we were happy to oblige.

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It goes without saying, but we miss this little chunky snuggle-toothed squish face. Life won’t be the same without her. 💔

More about Ecuador, coming soon…

Adiós,

Whitney