An end of an era
Well, regardless of Ryther's reluctance, I told him I was taking the cat in today to be put to sleep. She was unable to eat much of anything, and was virtually choking on the piece of chicken (which she was eating the other day) that I gave her last night. Then this morning she was doing that same choking, head shaking thing just from drinking water. So that was it. With the kidney disease, the diarrhea, and now not even being able to eat anything at all, enough is enough.
I called the place where I took Harry, because I liked that they gave the cat a shot to relax them first, which I didn't recall my regular vet doing when I took in Marbles. But once I finally got through their phone hell, they said they could do it, but they would first need to do an exam since she wasn't a patient of theirs. That was $99.00, on top of the fee to put her down I'm sure. I was like "yeah, thanks". I'm sorry, this is no kitten. You don't need to give this bag of bones an exam to see if she is worthy of being PTS! So I made the appt with my regular vet and took her over this morning. She wasn't keen on going into the box and then she didn't want to get out. But we got there and they were very nice, and this time they did give her a shot before giving her the final shot, which was good since it took him a few tries to find a vein that wasn't collapsed to give her the last shot. I brought a box to put her in so she can go with Marbles and Harry and Bumpkin (Toto's leg is out back, she never liked other cats anyway) Smudge will go back to the cemetery from whence she came. I wish it had been a sunny day today, I would have liked to have let her sit in the sun for a while... one last time.
I took her back to the cemetery after, and put the box in the tomb for later burial. Maybe this weekend.. if it ever stops raining.
I felt sick after. I thought maybe I was coming down with something. I had a headache from crying but this was a stomach ache too. I really felt like I was going to vomit, which I have never felt before after putting a cat down.. So I went home and lay down and Muffin came in and plopped herself on me and we snoozed for a few hours. When I woke up I felt better. Maybe I just needed a muffin.
So goodbye Smudge... 19 years in our home. We got her the same year we moved to our current home, so we've been here as long as she was alive.... She was always Ryther's cat, when she decided she had to suddenly bite you in her later years, he put up with it and I stopped petting her. But she stopped that oddly enough when Harry died. ... I guess she was protesting him. I will also miss her in the garden, bending over to pick weeds, and having her unexpectedly jump on my back. Though she hadn't hunted in years, in her day, she was an amazing birder (her prey of choice) and we once saw her almost take a bird out of mid air.
RIP