Posted on 10/27/2009 10:36:18 AM PDT by pabianice
I had to put-down Schmeckel Kitty today. He was a remarkably sweet friend to me for 13 years. He had tough luck. We found him nearly starved to death in 1997 at a roadside stand. He looked like a kitten, all bones. We brought him home, cleaned him up, and he became the sweetest, most loving kitty. He had a lot of bumps along the way. His bowel was removed in 2000. We saved him. He was hit by a car in 2006 and lost a rear leg plus got a herniated diaphragm. We saved him. Early this year he went into kidney failure and after some intensive care, we saved him again. He was on several meds plus daily hydration and was doing well until about five days ago. He got really sick. A trip to the vet today showed he was in total kidney failure and was badly anemic. His kidneys finally gave out, but not his great heart. He couldn't walk this AM so we went to the vet where I got the terrible news. He just wore out. But even as I held him and the vet gave him his final injection, he purred and kissed me. Damn. So hard to write this. Hard to see the keyboard.
So he's gone over the Rainbow Bridge. He leaves a hole in my heart and a huge empty space in the house. I promised him I wouldn't let him suffer and I kept my word.
Rest in Peace, Little Schmeckel. 1996 - 2009.
Bless you for being there for your cat for all of these years. Time to go hit the tissues ...
Ohhh, it’s so bittersweet. Sounds like he had a great and loving home and was well cared for. In that way he was the luckiest of kitties.
You gave the best of care and a good home to your beloved pet. Please take comfort in that. Anyone who has had to face making the same decision understands the depth of your grief and loss.
I am so sorry. a little over a year ago I had to let my 25-yo kitty go. I grieve to this day.
I am sure our pets are in Heaven waiting for us.
Prayers for you and your family.
I’m not a great fan of cats... but I am a great fan of love.
You showed great courage, determination and sacrifice all those years. Both you and your friend were richly rewarded.
I lost my mutt at the very end of 2007, after 16 years... sometimes I swear I can still smell his mangy butt around here.
regards,
djf
I’m so sorry to hear about your kitty. I don’t think you ever stop missing them - it just gets a little bit easier to cope with the kitty-shaped hole in your heart. I had to send my Bubba to the Rainbow Bridge almost two years ago and I still miss him.
So sorry to hear - sounds like a wonderful kitty.
Blessings to you...
Yay for y’all - what a fortunate kitty! Prayers for comfort and joyful memories.
Colonel, USAFR
Sounds like he should have been nicknamed “Lucky”.
With heartfelt sympathy...
I have shed a tear or two over lost kitties. My longest was Gray Kitty of 14 years.She traveled with me to Venezuela and the USVI. My latest was Benny who was a midget cat, born with one eye and more birth defects. Most intelligent cat of the many I have had and loved, He went to his greater kitty reward 2 weeks ago 6 months o;d and about thhe size of a 6 week old kitten. RIP Benny.
barbra ann
I’m very sorry to hear about your furry friend. From your words I can tell he was a truly special blessing.
I love cats...however I don’t know that I’d want to make it public that my cats name was schmeckle :)
Be thankful. The good Lord just loaned him to ya for a while and he wanted him back.
So sorry about Schmeckel. Beautiful kitty. I know it’s hard for you right now.
Schmeckel, please say meow to my Bud-Roe, will ya? 17 years and I still miss ya, buddy...
My heart aches for you. We know that awful feeling as we let loving pets go free of pain. The time Schmeckie was with you made you better and your life richer. I may be wrong, but I believe all animals go ome to God because they do perfectly what He wills. Schmeckie will be waiting for you and you will have eternity together.
Our sympathies. It’s always hard to lose a member of the family. They come to mean so much to us. We hurt when they do.
We had to put our poor little Stridar cat down this last Friday. Like all of our kitteh konspiracy, he was a rescue/found kitty. He was sort of thrown into the same box as his purported sister, Precious. I say purported because we were never sure that it was in fact his sister. The kids got to name these two, and since they were enamoured of all things Lord of he Rings, they named him Strider. that was later amended to Stridar, because he was one of those Cats Without a Brain. We always figured that he was so dumb, that the coyotes would get him sooner or later. Thing is, he was in fact SO dumb that he managed to survive until this last Friday.
The thing that got to him was thyroid problems. His behavior had become increasingly erratic over the last couple of years, and he wasn’t looking too good. He perked up quite a bit this last summer and looked like he was having a good time, but slid back down come the Fall.
So, when we took him to the vet, the diagnosis was thyroid trouble. For a thousand bucks or so, we were told, we could get him initial treatment and then he’d have to get pilled twice a day for the rest of his life. Quality of life for the little guy would have been questionable - it was sold to us a treatment, not a cure.
So we said, no, let him go to his reward. The vet tried to guilt-trip us into going for the treatment, but we held firm. I informed the vet that we STILL owed thousands of $ to WSU in a vain attempt five years ago to save Ginger, Candace’s Canadian mare. Furthermore, I let her know that all of our cats were ‘saved’ cats, and that we rescue an average of one horse per year - that’s all we could afford. That shut her up.
So I stayed with Stridar to the last, and told him we’d see him again.
Yeah - it’s hard.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.