The little cat showed up one evening looking very bad. I can only imagine how hard his life must have been in his last months on this earth. We gave him food and water, and kept a check on him throughout the day and night. We knew he was in bad shape, but hoped he would stay close to our home. This way we could do our best to keep him fed, and watch out for him until we could get him to the vet.
It was almost a week before he trusted us enough to let us pet him. Once he did, he was so happy you would have thought we were lifelong friends. He would follow us around outside, always keeping us close. We knew he wanted in our house, but we had 3 cats, and wanted to make sure he was okay before adopting him.
We made the vet appointment, and we were both excited about bringing him home. He was so loving, we both felt so fortunate to have found him. He had gained weight in the short time we were feeding him, but his health was still not good. Then the vet gave us the bad news. He was positive for the Feline Leukemia virus.
We knew we couldn’t bring him home, and there were no rescue homes with a vacancy. It broke my heart knowing he would have to be put to sleep, but there was no other way. He was in no shape to survive outside much longer, and we couldn’t stand the thought of him suffering alone.
We stayed with him, holding him and talking to him. I still see his little face looking up at me, so full of love, it just breaks my heart that he could not have been saved. We would have given him a loving home.
We decided to have him cremated, and bring him home. It is not the one we hoped to give him, but it is the best we can do. He deserves to be with people who loved him.
We may only have known this little black cat for a week, but he became part of our family. In the last days of his life,
he was loved.
You will be missed.
| Hobie |
| 8, Aug 2005 |
| Jim Skinner |