To my dear beloved Shadow.
I will miss you very much even though you were with us a short time. The pain is bad because you were a baby,not given a chance to grow up.I loved you very much my baby. I think of the Socksy And Shadow, My two beloved cat and kitten that Shadows’ passing has hurt me alot more than Socksy. I loved them both, but I think of Shadow being a kitten, being only 7 weeks left me not enough time to know him very well. A part of me has died with him. We didn’t know when we got him from my mother in law’s house
that he was sick.
He was a ferral kitten and was born outside my mother in laws house. She had several ferrall cats that have given birth to more than a few litters. I was given the chance to pick the kitten out. I fell in love with him at first sight. He was one of the smaller kittens, weighing only 1 pound which we were told by the vet telling my husband and daughter that he was under weight. He was so light to pick up. I remember the first night we had him he meowed almost all night. My husband stayed with him the whole night. The second night Shadow was more quiet. He had a good appetite. He usually ate most of the food in his dish. He was so cute. His little face and the way he would look straight into your eyes and stare at me and it was almost like when a person looks into your eyes. I would talk to him and it was as though he was listening to every word I was saying.
He had a dry nose which indicated he was probable sick. My daughter who is 15and a half insisted that other cats have had dry noses which were not sick and I believed her. She has read many books about cats and knew a lot them. On June 18, 2011 Shadow stopped eating and he drank very little. Sunday It was the same thing with him not eating. We tried to get him to eat but he would just turn his head away. Monday June 20, 2011 came and then my husband took him to the vet. The vet told him that Shadow had a temperature of 97 and it was supposed to be 101. He was also dehydrated so he was on intravenous to give him fluids. He also was given a warming blanket to help him. The vet told my husband to come back in 2 hours. My husband got the call 1 hour after he had dropped him off telling him that Shadow had passed away. Even though I was numb from the news about Shadow, I asked my husband if we could look for another kitten and we went over to Pet Smart and found a kitten we liked after holding 3 of them. My son was with us. He held only one. We took the kitten home the next day. The first 2 days we had him I realized we had rushed into things too fast. We had gotten the kitten only 1 day later.
I found out that I wasn’t ready to love another kitten so soon. I would look at him and think of Shadow. I had not given myself time to grieve. I still remember that Sunday before he died, He was in our room and i had to get up 3 or 4 times because he was meowing and looking up to me to be picked up. I held him close and i rocked him like a baby. I wanted to comfort him as much as possible. I had talked to him telling him to fight this and to be strong. And then that night i knew i had to let him go. I told him I was going to have to let him go. We had found out the Monday he died the vet told my husband that he had distemper. He had got his shots so we thought he was alright. The vet told us he had probably gotten distemper at a younger age, so he was sick before we brought him to the vet. I will miss Shadow so much. Shadow was so lovable and liked to be cuddled.
Our new kitten Lucky is going to take longer to be able to love because i have not gotten over grieving for Shadow. My husband doesn’t understand nor do my kids. I think just because he was just with us a short time that I can’t grieve for him or love him. I will miss Shadow very much. He was one of a kind. You are forever in my heart my baby Shadow.
I miss you sweet little face,
| Shadow |
| 20, June 2011 |
| Rose Hume |