Lost My Leo Of 15 Years Options

[macgrl]

This just happened yesterday and my husband and I are just devastated, even though we knew his days were becoming numbered.

The past year he walked with a limp and we had him on cosquin for cats and that seemed to ease the arthritis in his hips. My daughter who was only six when he came home as a kitten noticed his decline when she last came to visit a week ago. He was much more frail, and not living with him day to day she noticed the difference between even Christmas and now.

Superbowl sunday he was his usual self, we ordered a family chicken dinner and was getting his usual expected share of chicken. Yesterday morning I gave him his usual can of soft food, then about a hour or two later he vomited it up, and by the looks of it the chicken from last night, undigested. He also had a dirrehea like drainage and was trying to pass a stool where he was laying but all he could do was just spasm in pain. Good god we tried to help, I got a warm washcloth to clean his hindquarters which clearly bothered him. I called the vet and made an appointment as soon as possible which would have been the next day. In the meanwhile Leo went to hide behind a desk and curl up, my daughter went to put him back by the towels in the bathroom and he had his mouth open for a moment in a pant. I had to call back and ask if I could bring him in immediately to put him down, so I got the car ready because it is frigid cold here in WI and my daughters brought him to the car. My husband could not bare to go with us because that was his baby.

I got half way and I was ready to turn the car around, but my daughter reminded me even though he was alert he was periodically spasming in pain. This was it. It hit us so fast we did not have time to brace ourselves. He calmly stayed still there for the vet when he got ready to get the shot and he went so peacefully. It was a mix of relief and grief for us, especially the girls I have at home who have grown up with him. After all was done the vet showed us his skin that had signs of liver failure. It is comforting to read the posts where everybody had their doubts and second guesses like I did. I am still going through the motions, I never had a pet for this long.

[macgrl]

Well I made it through my first day back to work, I was very busy for most of the day and that did help. One of my co-workers shared her story about accidentally running over her favorite dog and how that tore her up for a long time. That had me holding back the tears, but it was good to talk about how much we loved our kids.

I told Al to check out the bookmark for this site and it would help him. He has been out only a couple of weeks from back surgery and nothing to do but sit home all day and think constantly about it. It actually felt good to get away from the house and he cannot do that yet.

I told him that maybe sometime by spring, or when we are ready to, we can bring home another little tom. I reminded him a good part of his 'special' character was all the care and attention that he gave to him. He talked to that little fuzzball with the big paws and ears like he was a little person from day one. I liked the comment about them 'meeting us half-way within the bonds of communication', the only time they probably do that in the wild is to vocalize to mate or fight. They talk to us for our benefit, and thinking about it probably theirs too because they enjoy just being with us and communicating too. It was a rough morning, he always said his 'good mornings' to us and the absence was there and it hit us hard.

I am still trying to remember the heartwarming and fun moments to replace the memory of his illness yesterday. It is already becoming clearer to us that we did the right thing, I just never expected it to be so sudden and to have to make a quick decision. I wish I had a little longer to say goodbye, without him being in pain. He did seem pretty happy Sunday so I got to just keep that in mind when the negative haunts me.