As if there weren't enough things going on at our house this week, this morning I had to have our kitty, Rascal, put to sleep.
The above photo is what she looked like when we first got her: a scrawny, pitiful, lost little feral kitty, whose mother had gotten run over by a car. At the time, I had just had a miscarriage, and Mr. ReddHedd thought that I could use a project to get my mind off things.
Boy, was she ever a project.
We had to bottle feed her for the first few weeks she was at our house, because she was still far too tiny to even begin any solid food.
But to get her to eat, we had to pass through a whirling dervish haze of claws and biting because she was a wee bit on the crazy side and terrified of all things human.
It took months of coaxing to get her to climb up on my lap without shredding yet another pair of sweatpants in the process, but she finally warmed up to me enough to not try to claw my eyes out. And then she began to enjoy the scratches, purring contentedly while she too a nap on my knee.
Once she decided she was ours, she was a loyal and loving...albeit still completely crazy...cat. I cannot say that hers was an easy life -- she alternated between loving us and then refusing to live in the house with us by moving out to the garage in a huff. But what love she had to give, she gave to us with every purr and nuzzle.
She was over 16 years old, and had stopped eating or drinking in the last few days. Even tuna juice was no temptation. This morning, she came to tell me that it was time, and she and I took our last car ride together just an hour ago.
My heart is broken, but it was unquestionably the right thing to do. Goodbye, sweet angel with the devil claws. Rascal, sweetheart, you will be missed.
3 comments:
Oh, Christy, you are just getting hammered. It just sucks...I have no words of comfort. I wish I did.
Jill - I have just sobbed off and on all day. This week has well and truly sucked, and there is just no way around it. It has to get better, right? The good thing was that she got to be in my arms, getting love and purring...and it was absolutely the right thing to do for her, the merciful thing to do under the horrible circumstances. But it just doesn't make it any easier.
My heart is broken. But even this will mend in time. It has to, right?
Oh this is really sad news on top of all the other sad news, Christy. Cats really do know let us know when it's time to go. We have been watching our 13 year old kitty cat, and he has been slowing way down. We know we're going to have to make that decision someday soon, but we also know it will be made with the kind of love you wrote about here. It's a heartbreaking act of the greatest kindness.
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