My Pets Live

Everyday I suspect my pets are going to die. But somehow they keep living.

The cats are going to be 14 this summer. The dog will be 10. The dog's in better shape than the cats, but the cats don't seem terrible. Sometimes I have to help one of the cats get up on a particular thing, where he eats. And he doesn't seem to go upstairs as much as he used to. They're moving slower and acting like their young days are past.

The dog is closer to me, like a constant physical presence. So it's easy to see she's always alive. The cats have their own privacy issues -- I suppose I could say it that way -- so there's pronounced gaps between the times I saw them last and the times I see them next.

If they lie still too long, I'm thinking they're dead.

One of these days it's got to happen. It'll be sad when they die -- which will likely be one only and not together -- but it's not going to be unexpected.