Saturday, February 6, 2010

R.I.P.

We lost one of our kittens yesterday. It had to be one of the most heart-wrenching things I've ever had to go through.

Here's the story:
We found him (MiniMau) crouched up in the front yard as we were heading out for a celebratory dinner on Thursday evening. It was odd when we walked up to him because he didn't get up. Normally he will get up and walk around our feet. So I picked him up and pet him for a bit and when I set him back down, he wobbled all drunk-like. I picked him up again, realizing that something wasn't right. We inspected all of his bones to make sure he hadn't gotten hit by a car. There were no broken bones. So we put him in his bed while we went to dinner. When we got home and checked on him, he hadn't moved. When we picked him up to love on him he would make this awful cry if we laid him on his back or in any position that really stretched out his tummy. (Like if we were cradling him and he leaned over the edges of our arm). There was a little blood coming from his "wenis", which was really just bloody urine. We looked up online what it could possibly be. He fit every symptom of "feline urological disorder", which is prevalent in males. (Symptoms include: bloody urine, vomitting, excessive crouching or straining, lethargy, and a couple others I can't recall.)

We decided to wait until morning to see what his condition was before doing anything drastic. He ended up being worse that next morning. Trey found him over by the 4-wheeler with vomit all around him. He was in so much pain, and couldn't hold his head up; there was just nothing we could do. He was too far gone to get him treated. It just hit him like a ton of bricks. Showed no signs of any problems up until that moment on the yard. He had been running and playing with the other 2 like 30 mins before that. He could barely look at us long enough to let us know that he was ready to go.

Trey dug a grave for him in the backyard and laid his towel in the hole, and laid MiniMau on the towel. He arranged him so that he was confortable and had his tail curled up and tucked under his chin. Next he had to do the hardest thing he could ever have to do. I had to take the truck and go to Starbucks so I didn't hear it. We were both so torn up about it that we cried all day. I am comforted in knowing that he is now in a better place.

The part that made me most sad, was that since we intended on adopting him out (both adoptions fell through), we didn't have a collar and name tag for him like we did Mau and Boy. And even though he knew that we were his home and family, he wasn't "included in ownership" with a collar and tag. I went and had one made to hang on his headstone that Trey is working on welding up.

Rest In Peace our little one. 9/29/09-02/05/10

1 comment: