Monday, November 9, 2009

Not a good day

We had to put our cat to sleep this morning.




We got Hopi as a tiny kitten on the weekend of July 4th, 1996 when our oldest daughter was six months old. We named him Hopi because he had the colors of the southwest in him - blue eyes, white and orange fur. Gorgeous animal.







Hopi has been an indoor cat for the last few years. He went missing on Saturday, and I found him around midnight Saturday night. He'd managed to crawl behind a stack of books in a spare bedroom. One leg wasn't working properly. I thought at first he had dislocated it, but when I brought him to the vet this morning, she said it was probably blood clots, and the leg was essentially dead. He also had congestive heart failure, failing lungs, and a host of other difficulties.

It all happened so quick. It's hard to believe I never have to kick him off my keyboard again. Or that he won't be sneaking under the covers on our bed on a cold winter night. Up to this point he looked like a perfectly healthy cat - like an elderly statesman, dignified and a bit goofy.

Damn.

11 comments:

  1. What a beautiful and adorable cat. I am so sorry you had to put him down! It sounds like he's been a blessing and that you have good memories with him. :) May those be the ones to help you through this time of grief.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I am so sorry about your fur baby. Cats can sure take up a lot of room in a persons heart. So sorry for your loss:-(
    Debbie
    PS Beautifull cat!

    ReplyDelete
  3. I'm sorry for your loss, Patrice. I have a couple of cats that are 1996 and 1997 vintage too. Oh yeah, and one 1999 model. They are still vigorous and healthy, but I know the clock is ticking. Sounds like Hopi was much loved and a happy cat. I'm sure he was happy in the life he spent with you and yours.

    ReplyDelete
  4. I too lost a cat htis year. We did not have her out to sleep, she died at home, as I thoguht it best. Her name was George, because we got her as a Kitten at a movie theatre where hse was darting in. We didnt learn till lateer than George was a girl.

    She was with us 12 years.

    That said, I can certianly understand the pain of loosing an ANimal who has been a companion for so long, and offer my own COndolances. May Hopi rest with God.

    ReplyDelete
  5. I am so sorry. The death of a cat is a terrible thing. I hope the hole left gets filled soon.

    ReplyDelete
  6. My sincerest condolences - we have two, Clawed Mewnet and Mewna Lisa and they've become a large part of our family and we hope to have at least as many years with them as you had with Hopi. I would hate to see either of them suffer.

    ReplyDelete
  7. P.S. What a beautiful cat Hopi was.

    ReplyDelete
  8. I'm so glad that God gives us pets. They bring us so much joy and leave such an emptiness when they are gone.

    ReplyDelete
  9. so sorry for your loss. We had a cat that looked just like yours. In fact Powder was born the same summer Hopi was. He was a huge lump of a cat weighing in at 20 lbs of fur and fluff and he was all muscle! Slept under the covers of our bed to hide from our other cat. Had to give him up in 2001 when our middle child was born with severe allergies. :(

    We also rescued 2 kittens that looked like Hopi in Dec 1997 near my home where Powder was from. Those 2 are still kicking around with a good friend who adopted them

    ReplyDelete
  10. We lost three cats this year. Two to old age (they were 14 years old), and one to the neighbor's dogs (the reason I told my husband, don't let the cat out! He did anyway, and here is the result. At least he won't be doing that any more).

    At least the older cats went without any pain, at the vet's office.

    It still hurts.

    Melody

    ReplyDelete
  11. Cats have a very annoying tendency to hide injury and illness until it is very serious.

    Beautiful cat. I am sorry for your loss, even though I am late.

    ReplyDelete