Thank you. Yesterday and today have been hard. I keep seeing his ghost everywhere. I wait for him to come wake me up in the morning and it never comes. He was very ritualistic and created these routines that just became a part of what home is.
Now there’s no one trying to lick my hair in the morning. No one purring in my ear. No one lying down next to my chest and rolling into me so he can be the “little spoon” and cuddle while I wake up. I miss that. Mornings feel wrong now.
We still have litter and an almost full bag of kibble in the basement. I’ll probably eventually donate it, but, yeah, it’s really a tender time. The vet sent us a card last week. Didn’t expect that at all.
My mom sent me a card which arrived yesterday. The cover says
I don’t think she could have found a more perfect card for him.
I’m sorry about your kitty too. No matter how long we get with them, it never seems like enough.
Sorry for your loss, Kaio. My elder statesman, Fuzzy, passed away this spring at the age of 15, and it still hurts.
They do get into your heart, no doubt.
So sorry about your kitty; I went through this last year. So awful to see them go. It will get better in time.
Maybe doing some fostering down the road can help you through it. My local nonprofit rescue covers all costs of fostering, including food and litter; they just need you to help with socialization, which means playing with it/them as as much possible.
I understand that you used the vet you knew best and probably didn’t feel like you had a lot of options at the time. Not to be critical, but to let you know: $600 is crazy expensive for euthanasia + cremation. I had to have my beloved kitty put down last year, and our medium-size family dog the year before - each was $145 at the local after-hours emergency animal hospital, not a low-cost clinic. That price included plaster paw prints, one for me and each of my daughters. This is in a high-cost-of-living city. The in-home, evening-and-weekend vet charges $225 for euthanasia, plus $85 for cremation.
A friend just had his >100 pound dog euthanized at home and taken for cremation. He maxed out his credit card to pay ($1600.00). The dog was in pain, howling nonstop, and my friend couldn’t get him into a car singlehandedly on a Saturday night.
There was only one service that offered house call euthanasia, and the vet he spoke with tried to schedule him for 48 hours later. He eventually agreed to do it right away, but he pulled a big number out of his butt and there was little choice.
Supply/demand kind of thing.
Done and done. We lost our Penny-dog this summer and it’s so hard. I’ll be thinking about you.
Thank you everyone.
We keep finding his mousie toys around the apartment. They will magically appear in places where they definitely weren’t half an hour earlier… when we took the mop bucket out of the closet, no mouse, when we put the bucket back, there’s a mouse toy sitting exactly where the bucket goes.
The mousie toys were his favorite. Every time we got new ones he would eat their leather tails off before the day was out. And as you saw in the video, he knew how to make them move and “run around” so he could stalk and chase them. His hunting technique wasn’t exactly sophisticated, but it was certainly enthusiastic.
We have a 3-year-old calico too – she’s a very different cat, but she likes to cuddle and purr and that’s comforting too.
Got a card from his vet today.
I love his vet. He included a very kind personal note in the card. Púca liked him too, as well as he could like the guy palpating his abdomen twice a year. Púca was actually pretty stoic at the vet, for the most part, and generally never forgot to charm his way in and take advantage of pets from anyone.
Sometimes I can keep this all at an emotional distance, even with the missing routines of home. Sometimes though someone will be kind and sympathetic about this and I’m so moved it all comes bubbling up again.
The only way out is through. It just seems kind of far off right now.
I can help with a lot of sympathy but only a little cash; you’re now past the halfway point, tho.
Thank you. I really appreciate everything.
His ashes will be delivered today…
I just wanted to thank everyone for your help, whether through the GoFundMe or your kind words.
When Merlyn passed 5 years ago, I was completely alone and left with more than $2000 in debt. It took more than two years (and shuffling the debt from credit card to credit card) for me to completely pay it off.
This time, I’m not alone, thanks to you and the people close to me in realspace. And thanks to your generosity I’ve got a head start on paying down the debt, so it won’t be hanging over me for the next two-plus years.
I’ll be making arrangements soon to scatter his ashes in the same park where we did the same for Merlyn, so he can be with his brother. (They were very close when they were both alive.)
It means a lot that people can understand how much Púca meant to me. Thank you.
Thanks for the follow-up and I’m glad you can see an end to the debt. I know how much you will miss your kitty and hope you have some other cats in your life. If not, don’t forget the shelter kitties who need homes. In fact let me make that a reminder to anyone else reading this: Don’t forget the shelter kitties need homes. A good thing for the holidays!