Today I had to put our cat, Felix, down. He had a tumor in his mouth that was infected and really not good. The vet and their assistants were so nice and kind. I am ever grateful they did not try to sell me on some sort of cancer cure for a 14 year old outdoor cat.
My mom adopted Felix 14 years ago to keep her evil cat Demi company. Within two years she found that not only did Demi not adjust to Felix, she attacked him every chance she got, but Felix sprayed the whole house every chance he got(Demi was just defending her masters house....No she was just being evil that's what she is.). When she moved out of Gilroy my mom decided that Felix the cat had to go. (read here sucker tattooed on my forehead) I felt sorry for the cat so I said I would let him be an outdoor cat at my house but he would never come in for more than a jog from the back door to the garage when it was raining outside. This is how he lived for the last twelve years.
Questions the vet was required to ask made me think people take this stuff very seriously. "Do you want to be there with him?" No, no thank you. Do you see me? I have to go home and tell my boys who were crying before I left that their cat is dead, so no I do not need any more trauma in my life. I have seen my share of dead animals, I choose to skip it this time! "Do you want the ashes?" I am sorry now if offend someone, NO I don't want dead animal ashes in my house. What am I supposed to do with them? My luck Corbin would break into them and dig around and bury stuff in them and then lick his fingers! EEEEWWW! No thank you! Go ahead and group cremate him and spread the ashes over the Sierras....Guess where the biggest pet cemetery in the world is?! That's right the Sierra mountains, so the animals can be at one with nature. YIKES! Good think ashes can't become zombies!
When I got home, I gathered my boys up and we talked about Felix and told them that he was in heaven with Papa. Adam who was crying before I left was kind of like "Oh, its okay then. He's with Papa. Its all good. Can we get another cat today?" (NOOOOOO!!!!!) Zach was upset but kind of looked at me like yeah you told me before you left..."Can I go play my video games now?" Corbin was angry and upset. As soon as Adam mentioned another cat he was all on board. Again, NOOOO!
I was somewhat surprised about the reaction many of our friends and neighbors had to the news. I mean really he was just a cat. Apparently he was the neighborhoods cat not just our cat, which was good for him because I am not really good at showing pets affection. So I paid for the food and vet bills and the neighbors and friends gave him the attention. He was a good kitty. He tolerated so many things and did so many things that made us laugh over the years.
He would roll in and out of the perimeter of the shock collar line to see if he could get the dog to shock herself. (Smart cat!) Worked 9 times out of 10.
"Corbin! Why did you throw the cat?"
"To see if he would land on his feet!"
"DON'T THROW THE CAT!" He never scratched him, bit him or even hissed at him. I would have!
Don't pick the cat up by his tail!
Felix! Don't lick my toes and then bite them! Weird cat!
Don't lick the cat and bite him!
The neighbors added to that that if you told him to stay off the patio furniture he would. One of the neighbors daughters would drag him by his back feet to where she wanted him to go and he would let her and hold still when she poked and pet him. (Maybe not so smart...)
And my favorite and one of the many things I have blogged about in the last few months., "the garage smells like meatloaf."
Thankfully, my garage will not smell like meatloaf again any time soon.(I hope! Please?!) It would be very hard to replace a kitty who tolerated all that, poor kitty. Good thing I don't have to! :-)
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