Thank you all for your kind thoughts and purrs and hugs and candles.
Someone sent an email to Hazelaz and she called me just as we were
leaving the vet. Thank you to whoever did that, it was nice having her
call.  It helps so much to know that you are here and that you remember
my little moongoddess with the big blue eyes.  If you didn't know
Selena you can see a picture of her at
http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/julie_snowshoe/detail?.dir=/8457&.dnm=20eb.jpg&.sr
c=ph&.tok=phvaAVFBmluQIRsr
or
http://tinyurl.com/sy6jd

We asked that the vet perform an autopsy so that we might determine
what happened. As well as wanting to know what happened to her we
wanted to make sure that there wasn't a threat to Hobbes, Lacey, Sam
and Barnabus.  The vet called this afternoon and said preliminary
findings point to hypertrophic cardiomyopathy - an enlarged heart. She
said that when she sectioned the left chamber of her heart she had a
hard time finding the ventricular passage (?) that blood flows through.
She compared it to an athlete on steroids.  There are warnings such as
breathing fast but she hasn't shown any signs of being sick.  While she
spent a lot of her 7 years with us under the bed she didn't die under
the bed. It looked like she was taking a bath when it happened.  She
had a habit of spreading her back legs out in front of her and bathing
her tummy...very unladylike for a princess. This is what it looked like
she was doing.  The vet said there were no signs of her suffering for
which I'm thankful.  She had eaten well that evening and had come to be
to be brushed and even jumped onto the back of the couch so she had
given us no sign that she wasn't well.

Selena's birthdate on her records is listed as August 15, 1997. She was
rescued on the day she was scheduled to be euthenized and the rescue
group thought she was about 2 years old which means I adopted her
August 15, 1999.  We only had her for seven short years...not nearly
long enough.  I remember when we got her she wouldn't tell us her name.
We had her for two weeks and she hadn't told us her name. We were
getting ready to go to this race, in 1999 and I was working on the race
car and started crying.  Rusty asked what was wrong and I said, I can't
leave town without naming Kitty. She'll think she doesn't have a home.
I had told him that she had a sweet meow. He said, "well, she has a
sweet voice and she's beautiful, lets call her Selena" named after the
singer.  I later learned that Selena was a moon godess and the name was
just perfect.

Its been a long day and 10 hours on the road gives you a lot of time to
reflect on the past 7 ears and remember but a lot of time to feel sad
as well.  I know you all know what I'm feeling and that makes it so
nice to come and have  a place to talk.  I'm going to bed now and when
we return home I'll post more about out Moon Godess.

Hugs and purrs to all of you,
Julie and Rusty, Hobbes, Lacey, Sam and Barnabus
(In loving memory of Selena)