November 9, 2010

Today I am grateful for the unconditional love of our pets.

Jason, Christian and I came home from Christmas shopping in December of 2005. It was a couple of days before Christmas. As we were walking into the house we heard a faint meow. Jason wen to investigate and came inside with, not a kitten but certainly not an adult, black cat. He seemed hungry so we decided to feed him a little and try to find his owner. He was already house-broken so we knew he belonged to someone. It was late so the next morning I got up and went door to door in our neighborhood. I thought maybe someone lost what was to be a really cute Christmas present. We even put up signs but nothing. After a couple of days we realized this black cat chose us so who are we to argue with that? For the last almost 5 years we have had Black Cat. He had an official name for the vets office but we always called him Black Cat. Jason loves his animals and Black Cat is no exception! Actually, Black Cat was the first animal for him in America so Black Cat is special. He woudl always crawl up on Jason's chest and sleep. He always wanted to be close to Jason. He would rub his head against ours which was his way of saying he loved us. We know he loved us! About a month ago Black Cat stopped eating. Not completely but not his regular food. We thought he didn't like the discount food we bought. He always has been a picky eater! He went from a robust and beautiful 20 pounds to a scrawny and scary looking 6 pounds in a month. I kept saying we needed to have him looked at but then he would show signs of getting better. He was drinking ALOT so we thought that was a good sign. Yesterday, when he came in from being outside, he could hardly walk on his hind legs. His breath stunk, he was cold and he wouldn't jump up on to anything. Very unlike him. I called Jason who was on his way home. He told me he would be home soon. I was very worried. When Jason came home he picked up Black Cat and brought him to our bedroom. He realized how bad the situation was. He layed him on the bed and covered him with our covers. I came in and caught Jason crying. That was it! Time to take action! We rushed Black Cat to the animal hospital on Wells Road. After what seemed like forever we learned he was 6 pounds, had a temperature of 81 when it should have been higher than 98, his blood levels were literally off the charts, I'm talking they couldn't get an accurate reading because their machine readings only went so high and his readings shot to that number and wanted to go higher and he was in the end stages of renal failure. The vet gave him a less than 10% chance of improvement. We had to make a really tough decision. Either pump him full of fluids that probably won't work, which would only be a temporary cure because there is no cure for renal failure, or let him go. Wow! Who knew when the day began yesterday that it would end like this? I asked the vet what would he do if this was his baby and he let me know that the chances for Black Cat are not quite none but not much better than none. He said he would lean towards letting his cat go because even if the fluid works right now, it won't be permanent and the quality of life would be nonexsitent. Jason and I had to let our Black Cat go. Would he want to live out the rest of his life, however long that may be, with renal failure? He would never get better. We drove home from the vet in silence except for the sounds of our crying. Even Georgia was crying but we think that had more to do with it being 11 at night and her so stinking tired!! This morning when Jason left for work he hugged me just a little but tighter. It is still painful! Christian, always the level-headed one, reminded us that Black Cat is with Murray (a puppy we lost to toxic poisioning almost 2 years ago. I know, I know, we really shouldn't have pets!) waiting for us because we are a forever family. Such wisdom from that boy. As we were saying goodbye I looked him in the eyes and it was as if he said, "Let me go, It's going to be OK." So we did.

Black Cat - Momma loves you! I always will! I will miss you but we will be together again. I will miss the cuddles and the kisses. I will miss you insisting on drinking straight from the faucett. I will miss your sweet demeanor with Georgia. You were a great kitty cat to let her treat you like she did and never ever defend yourself. I know you loved her! Say hi to Murray for us. We can't wait to be with you again! We love you big boy!