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The pets of AAC...
- Thread starter cmartinez
- Start date
We have three rescue cats. There was a family of feral cats living under an old
abandoned building. Someone living across the street told me he saw two
coyotes in the area and the cats were gone. Except for a tiny kitten too young
to be on its own. My wife tried to catch it with food to no avail. We got hold of
a local animal rescue group and they were able to trap the kitten.
They did not think the kitten a female would work out as a pet as she was very
wild. Here is a pic they sent us:
After a few weeks with my wife the kitten Sabrina really came around.
Here she is a month later:
She grew into a very nice cat. Cats tend to bond with one person in the house and Sabrina has a strong bond with my wife. Sabrina today at nine years old:
abandoned building. Someone living across the street told me he saw two
coyotes in the area and the cats were gone. Except for a tiny kitten too young
to be on its own. My wife tried to catch it with food to no avail. We got hold of
a local animal rescue group and they were able to trap the kitten.
They did not think the kitten a female would work out as a pet as she was very
wild. Here is a pic they sent us:
After a few weeks with my wife the kitten Sabrina really came around.
Here she is a month later:
She grew into a very nice cat. Cats tend to bond with one person in the house and Sabrina has a strong bond with my wife. Sabrina today at nine years old:
You gave her what she needed, love. Think about where she was verse her adapting to her new life. She needed to know what it was like to be loved and you gave her what she needed. Patience and time on your part with love. Now she is a happy girl.
Ron
I'm heartbroken ... Luca, our beloved 9 year old cat, was put to sleep this morning. A few weeks ago we noticed he was drooling a little on the right side of his mouth. So we took him to the vet, who gave him a shot of antibiotics, thinking that he had a sublingual infection of sorts, or maybe an infected tooth.
We did that three times in the following three weeks, until he decided to sedate the cat so he could make a more detailed inspection ... then he gave us the news. Our cat had a maxillary osteo-sarcoma. Meaning, he had bone cancer in his jaw. He told us that most of the time it was fast, and fatal. ... in fact, if he had been human, the standard procedure would've been removing his jaw, splitting it into three sections and throwing away the cancerous section and replacing it with a bone implant.
There was simply no way I was going to make the cat go through something like that.
The thing that impressed me the most was his nobility. A normal human being gets angry and upset when going through this sort of suffering ... not Luca ... he was even more docile and trusting of us than ever before. It feels as though he knew that he wasn't alone in this ordeal, and that we were going to do everything within our grasp to make him feel loved and appreciated.
The last 5 or 6 days (maybe the entire week) he ate nothing, and drank almost practically nothing either. He shunned food and water alike. All he wanted to do was to lay down and sleep. And slept he did in my bed, cozying himself against my belly during the night to keep warm. He loved the company of the members of our family, and would walk into the kitchen and lie down in the middle of the floor while we did our best not to accidentally step or trip over him while doing our chores ... we loved him so much that we didn't want him to leave the room simply because he was on the way.
Last night, at 5 am, he started coughing a milk-like foam on my bed's mattress. And when I cleaned it up using a clorox wet towel I discovered that the foam was so thin that it completely disappeared after barely touching it. That's when it downed on me that he was dying of dehydration and famine. But dehydration was taking him first ...
He was extremely weak, and could barely stand up. I carried him to his water bowl, and he didn't even bother to look at it, much less smell it.
He then went to a rug laying under a glass coffee table in our living room and laid himself down. His posture was that of a dying animal. Completely laying on his side, with his legs splayed straight in front of him, his eyes wide open, and his breathing shallow and difficult through a half-open mouth.
I did the only thing that I could think of, and I petted him. He loved it when you gently and lightly scratched his head with your nails. Then he turned his gaze up at me and gave me a look that I'll never forget. He looked straight into my eyes and held my stare. It was almost as he was saying something like: "Hey, I don't know what's happening to me right now but don't worry ... everything's going to be ok in the end" ... man ... that was an intense moment for me ... and this comes from a 58 year old man who's been around and seen things ...
After that, I woke my wife up, and we waited together 'till 9 o'clock to take him to the vet. His cage carrier be dammed. She held him in her arms during the short trip to the clinic. It was quickly decided right then and there that it would be best to euthanize him. He was suffering too much. He gave the world his last breath while we both were trying to comfort him the best we could.
Needless to say, my 25 year old kid is devastated, and my wife has cried her eyes out. He was unique. And me, I'm heartbroken as I've just said.
Farewell, and rest in peace, Luca. Our beloved, one-of-kind fat cat.
We did that three times in the following three weeks, until he decided to sedate the cat so he could make a more detailed inspection ... then he gave us the news. Our cat had a maxillary osteo-sarcoma. Meaning, he had bone cancer in his jaw. He told us that most of the time it was fast, and fatal. ... in fact, if he had been human, the standard procedure would've been removing his jaw, splitting it into three sections and throwing away the cancerous section and replacing it with a bone implant.
There was simply no way I was going to make the cat go through something like that.
The thing that impressed me the most was his nobility. A normal human being gets angry and upset when going through this sort of suffering ... not Luca ... he was even more docile and trusting of us than ever before. It feels as though he knew that he wasn't alone in this ordeal, and that we were going to do everything within our grasp to make him feel loved and appreciated.
The last 5 or 6 days (maybe the entire week) he ate nothing, and drank almost practically nothing either. He shunned food and water alike. All he wanted to do was to lay down and sleep. And slept he did in my bed, cozying himself against my belly during the night to keep warm. He loved the company of the members of our family, and would walk into the kitchen and lie down in the middle of the floor while we did our best not to accidentally step or trip over him while doing our chores ... we loved him so much that we didn't want him to leave the room simply because he was on the way.
Last night, at 5 am, he started coughing a milk-like foam on my bed's mattress. And when I cleaned it up using a clorox wet towel I discovered that the foam was so thin that it completely disappeared after barely touching it. That's when it downed on me that he was dying of dehydration and famine. But dehydration was taking him first ...
He was extremely weak, and could barely stand up. I carried him to his water bowl, and he didn't even bother to look at it, much less smell it.
He then went to a rug laying under a glass coffee table in our living room and laid himself down. His posture was that of a dying animal. Completely laying on his side, with his legs splayed straight in front of him, his eyes wide open, and his breathing shallow and difficult through a half-open mouth.
I did the only thing that I could think of, and I petted him. He loved it when you gently and lightly scratched his head with your nails. Then he turned his gaze up at me and gave me a look that I'll never forget. He looked straight into my eyes and held my stare. It was almost as he was saying something like: "Hey, I don't know what's happening to me right now but don't worry ... everything's going to be ok in the end" ... man ... that was an intense moment for me ... and this comes from a 58 year old man who's been around and seen things ...
After that, I woke my wife up, and we waited together 'till 9 o'clock to take him to the vet. His cage carrier be dammed. She held him in her arms during the short trip to the clinic. It was quickly decided right then and there that it would be best to euthanize him. He was suffering too much. He gave the world his last breath while we both were trying to comfort him the best we could.
Needless to say, my 25 year old kid is devastated, and my wife has cried her eyes out. He was unique. And me, I'm heartbroken as I've just said.
Farewell, and rest in peace, Luca. Our beloved, one-of-kind fat cat.
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R.I.P. Luca. I am not a cat person and I did not expect that reading about the demise of someone else's cat would stir emotion in me, but the way you worded everything was beautiful that I had no choice but feel it. I hope your sharing it here brought some small measure of peace to you.
I'm saddened by your loss. RIP Luca.
We've had to put 4 cats to sleep. I touched and comforted each of them until they passed. I cried every time. The first was 18 years ago when he was just shy of 18 years old; I still think of him, and the others, most days.
Hello,
Oh that's a shame sorry to hear that and sorry for your loss.
That's always a problem with pets though, you get attached to them and then they die one way or another. When i was much younger we always had at least one cat so i went through a lot of cat deaths some of them more extreme. One died right on the front steps from what i think you call "distemper" and that's not nice to see. Another was shot in the side, another wsa stolen, another was drowned, i could go on but i'll spare you the details. But also had a dog that died that was the only dog though.
When visit my friend in Los Angeles she has several animals including two dogs, one very small and one large. She had a third small one but it was killed by the big dog when it bit it's head right off.
But for the remaining two i can see that they are unique with a unique personality so you get used to that and get attached to them. When i came home after one such visit i realized i not only missed her i also missed the two doggies. They are a handful but really cool to be around.
The second small one had his leg bitten off by the big dog too, that's nasty but it survived and is doing well. To watch her run around the rooms is really funny but she's a really happy doggie.
I also had mice which i had raise from a wild mouse i caught in a live trap and didnt want to kill. It turned out the pregnant so i ended up with a whole family of mice ha ha. But what surprised me is how the little ones warmed up to me, a human and much much bigger than they. Once day i reached partly over the top of the cage to feed them and one quickly climbed up and grabbed the peanut right out of my hand. I was really surprised that it did not try to escape by jumping out which it easily could have. I guess that cage (really a big fish tank) was home to him.
One day though one did get out, i cant remember how, but a little while later i was walking near the cage and the little thing came right up to me as if to say "hey im lost get me back home" ha ha. I bent down to pick it up and it did nto try to run, but it did get scared when i grabbed it so i quickly got it back into the cage. Mice dont like to be handled. But i was so surprised that a baby mouse from a wild mother would act so friendly to a human.
Eventually they died off one by one, because their life span is only about 2 years. IT was not nice but when the last tw died off that was a bit more tragic. That was the end of the little mouse family i had for several years.
These days i cant do that anymore because they carry all kinds of stuff we cant take the risk anymore with the wild ones.
But when you get attached to a pet you have to always keep in mind you are most likely going to outlive it by a huge margin so prepare for it.
Well, that's unless you adopt a sea turtle maybe (ha ha).
Good luck with your future pets though.
So i guess we appreciate them when they are here and hate when they are gone, but try to live with it and we always have the memories.
The day we let them into our lives we know the day will come when we have to say goodbye. They bring us so much joy during the time they share with us and really define unconditional love. Looking back I try to remember all of the good times shared. They do live on in our hearts forever. Condolences to you guys as Kathy and I feel for you.
Ron
Thanks, Ron ... we're on the same page in this one. As my wife's just told me, the price one pays for many years of love and joy are a few days of piercing pain ... I'm old enough to know that the their passing is always going to hurt. But I also know that the pain eventually becomes sweeter as all the memories settle in and time goes by.
Thanks again for your good wishes.
The best laid plans o' mice an' men, an' cats an' dogs...
ha ha, a spinoff from Robert Burns apparently he left a few animals out.
Why do I suspect your wife and her camera figure into this?
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