Sad update
Sad things happened this weekend and I'm still not entirely okay... I'm going to paste what I wrote at The Avocado forum here, because I don't have the heart to type it up again.
We had to bury our cat yesterday. He died pretty much in my arms Saturday, around lunch time... It all went too fast and I haven't had time to process it entirely.
This lovely black cat came with the house my parents bought 10 years ago, and back then he had never been allowed inside. He was 9 years old then, and the previous owners had barely put out food for him in the winter and never any water. He was afraid, careful, shy, didn't trust people at all, but gradually he came closer and closer to us. He started coming inside, peeping in through the door, convinced by yummy treats and food that he would "steal" from the bowl we'd put out for him. About three years ago, he'd reached the stage where he was carefully sneaking into the living room to lie like a huge black loaf of bread on the rug in front of the fire place and just bask in the company... until anyone moved, at which point he'd get spooked and run out again.
But the last year, he'd taken to me a lot, and even came running to meet me every time I went to my parents' (which for over a year now has been every week, for four days straight) and greet me and try to herd me towards the sofa to sit down and pet him. He loved jumping up onto the back of the sofa where he'd sit for hours and rub his head against the back of mine and demand pettings and scritches, and you had to put your ear against his body to even hear the most quiet purr I've ever heard... He was completely black with just three tiny strands of white fur on his chest, and he had the profile of a panther, so handsome and proud.
Saturday, I was alone in the house, my mum was away, and I had a late morning coffee/breakfast around 11. The dogs got their treats because they love sharing coffee time with their humans, and the kitty was sitting next to me on the sofa. I offered him a piece of cheese from my sandwich, but he didn't want any I figured it was the wrong type of cheese because he was picky about his new-found love for cheese. We finished coffee, the cat jumped off the sofa and the dogs came up to sit on me, as usual. I turned on my laptop to watch a video...
I got 4 minutes into it when mum's little floofy poodle went over to the cat to sniff at him and the cat was calling for me, for help, and I noticed he was lying on his side, eyes wide and glassy and he was panting with his mouth partly open. Of course, I knew it was bad, and I got the dogs out of the room quickly and somehow also put on the kitty's fav music on my laptop, a piece that he'd always loved and always came over to me to just lie and sleep when I played... I sat by him on the floor and stroked his fur gently, talking to him, and he just stopped breathing. For about 20 seconds. Then he started panting again and said this little weird mrrrrffff-sound to me. I told him he didn't have to fight to stay, and he just stopped breathing again, and it was over.
From sitting next to me on the sofa and sniffing at the cheese I offered until his last breath and he was gone, took about 7 minutes. It was so fast, so unexpected. He hadn't been sick, shown no signs of pain, nothing. He just... died.
I'm having trouble working today. I'm still trying to get to grips with this. I miss my furry little friend. I wish I could show you a picture of him but Disqus doesn't want me to upload pics. Another time maybe.
This entry was originally posted at https://ldybastet.dreamwidth.org/688594.html.
comments there. You can comment on either site.
We had to bury our cat yesterday. He died pretty much in my arms Saturday, around lunch time... It all went too fast and I haven't had time to process it entirely.
This lovely black cat came with the house my parents bought 10 years ago, and back then he had never been allowed inside. He was 9 years old then, and the previous owners had barely put out food for him in the winter and never any water. He was afraid, careful, shy, didn't trust people at all, but gradually he came closer and closer to us. He started coming inside, peeping in through the door, convinced by yummy treats and food that he would "steal" from the bowl we'd put out for him. About three years ago, he'd reached the stage where he was carefully sneaking into the living room to lie like a huge black loaf of bread on the rug in front of the fire place and just bask in the company... until anyone moved, at which point he'd get spooked and run out again.
But the last year, he'd taken to me a lot, and even came running to meet me every time I went to my parents' (which for over a year now has been every week, for four days straight) and greet me and try to herd me towards the sofa to sit down and pet him. He loved jumping up onto the back of the sofa where he'd sit for hours and rub his head against the back of mine and demand pettings and scritches, and you had to put your ear against his body to even hear the most quiet purr I've ever heard... He was completely black with just three tiny strands of white fur on his chest, and he had the profile of a panther, so handsome and proud.
Saturday, I was alone in the house, my mum was away, and I had a late morning coffee/breakfast around 11. The dogs got their treats because they love sharing coffee time with their humans, and the kitty was sitting next to me on the sofa. I offered him a piece of cheese from my sandwich, but he didn't want any I figured it was the wrong type of cheese because he was picky about his new-found love for cheese. We finished coffee, the cat jumped off the sofa and the dogs came up to sit on me, as usual. I turned on my laptop to watch a video...
I got 4 minutes into it when mum's little floofy poodle went over to the cat to sniff at him and the cat was calling for me, for help, and I noticed he was lying on his side, eyes wide and glassy and he was panting with his mouth partly open. Of course, I knew it was bad, and I got the dogs out of the room quickly and somehow also put on the kitty's fav music on my laptop, a piece that he'd always loved and always came over to me to just lie and sleep when I played... I sat by him on the floor and stroked his fur gently, talking to him, and he just stopped breathing. For about 20 seconds. Then he started panting again and said this little weird mrrrrffff-sound to me. I told him he didn't have to fight to stay, and he just stopped breathing again, and it was over.
From sitting next to me on the sofa and sniffing at the cheese I offered until his last breath and he was gone, took about 7 minutes. It was so fast, so unexpected. He hadn't been sick, shown no signs of pain, nothing. He just... died.
I'm having trouble working today. I'm still trying to get to grips with this. I miss my furry little friend. I wish I could show you a picture of him but Disqus doesn't want me to upload pics. Another time maybe.
This entry was originally posted at https://ldybastet.dreamwidth.org/688594.html.
comments there. You can comment on either site.