We’re both currently at trivia thinking it would distract us but all we’re talking about is her and the funny things she’d do. I’m at least struggling not to cry, Jason has a better game face. Mission failed.
But yes, I hate that at some point we’ll forget the details of her. She always snuggled under the covers with me so last night was ROUGH. Such an abrupt change.
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Well wishes for the lost love bugs.
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I made a new friend while at my mother’s place on easter monday
This cat’ll take pets for hours. I had to stop and go inside and then the cat came to look through the door like “why?”.
It was still there in the bushes when I went out later and came out for session 2 like ‘hells yeah’
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The hits keep coming and a little bit ago we found ourselves in the same exact exam room at the emergency vet having to put another cat down.
Cliffy was the cat that was dumped on us last year when our “friend” had us cat sit and then never came back for him. He was such a good cat, extremely sociable and loving. Fit right in with our crowd. Just the best boy.
But unbeknownst to us, he also had tumors growing, who knows for how long. He was acting perfectly normal on Tuesday, then Wednesday it was pretty clear something was up. We already had a scheduled vet visit on Thursday, so good timing! His blood work looked good, so vet surmised that he was depressed because of Koop and that’s why he wasn’t eating. Gave us an appetite stimulant and we took him home, and they asked us to bring him back in the morning so they could take his temp which was running high.
So Jason took him this morning and explained that nothing seemed to have improved last night. They recommended going to the emergency vet so they could do an ultrasound, so he went there. The ultrasound found all the tumors and that one had perforated his colon and his dangerously high temp was likely due to sepsis. The only course of action was euthanasia. So back we went to go through it again. And he was so happy to see us when they brought him in, getting up to be near us and purring up a storm. But you could still tell he felt awful and he was hot to the touch. We did the best thing for him but it sucks. He was 8 or 9 so this feels like it came out of nowhere. Such a good boy, I can’t stress that enough.
At least he knew nothing but love and treats the last year of his life.
I just feel so empty and numb and like an unfit cat owner.
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I’m so sorry to hear this. God. I have been thinking of you two all week, and I am going to continue doing that. It must be so hard. I wish it could be different. He seemed like a sweet boy, and clearly well loved. It seems to me like you cared for him just as any good pet owner should.
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I’m confident saying that you gave them both great cat lives and they were lucky to be yours.
Although of course you sign up for this when you get a pet that’s not a tortoise or something, and I’ve heard people say that they don’t want pets because they don’t want to go through that type of loss, I think having pets adds something important to your life (if you’re the type) and is worth it.
What you said also reminds me of a scene that’s been haunting me, when the cat I lost last week looked up at me and around the room in her last moments with her one good eye, reminding me that almost everything about her life was my responsibility, including when it ended. It’s hard to be comfortable with that even if you know you’re doing the right thing.
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So sorry to hear this, but just want to echo everyone else here in saying It sounds like you did everything you possibly could to take care of both of them, and to ease their suffering in the end. I’m sure they knew that and appreciated your care too
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Thanks everyone, it’s just hard to not run through the last few months and rake myself over the coals for what signs may have been missed. Maybe we could’ve gotten them both to the vet to get it all figured out sooner, and would instead be mitigating their conditions now instead of them being gone.
It’s a small comfort they both stuck it out until we were back from our trip, so we didn’t come home to something truly awful.
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It’s all been said more or less by others but just want to add in that from personal experience that questioning yourself and feeling like you could have done more or differently is perfectly natural and common, but it’s also untrue and unfair to yourself. The fact that you even have this anxiety means you’re a caring and thoughtful pet caretaker. Were you not, it wouldn’t even occur to you anyways. The irony. Hindsight is 20/20 and you were doing what was best based on what you knew at the time, and your trust in the medical professionals you were consulting.
I went through the same after I put my own dog down. What if I could have caught this. I should have seen the signs. What if my choices put him in this position. Etc.
I know it’s easier said than done, but you need to throw up your hands, trust yourself that you did what you could and had to, and accept the universe is sometimes a cruel place beyond our control.
What matters is you gave them a life of love, care, and luxury they would not have received anywhere else, and I guarantee you they appreciated it every day and loved you back.
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almost can’t believe the timing just given the last couple weeks of posts in this thread but i do believe my cat is dying. and the circumstances are uniquely distressing in a way i don’t feel like writing out right now. a little hard to think straight about it but it is possible this is the worst i’ve ever felt
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Everyone has been going through such harsh stuff here lately… 
I don’t know if there’s really anything that can ease the pain of losing a meower…they’re each so unique that like, even if other cats come into your life in the years after, you miss them forever…there’s just no way around that.
mogu mogu posted this very sweet video the other day:
And then this one just a bit ago which is very moving in tandem:
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I drank/partied with this dude at my brother’s wedding in 2008. RIP!
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fuck yeah
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How is your kitty, if you don’t mind me asking?
i don’t! can’t bring myself to go through pictures of him right now but i’ll reply to a good one
it looks like he’s in the last few weeks of his life, which i have dreaded for years and is as awful as i imagined-- but he is home with us now, and a week and a half ago i thought he was in the last days of his life stuck at the vet, and in particular i thought he was going to pass while i was at the national world war ii museum in new orleans lousiana with my racist grandfather, so i’m mostly relieved that didn’t happen
basically i’m happy he’s here and gets to hang out a little while longer and also sick about it every waking hour etc etc
yeesh
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