The Little Red House with the White Porch: Nov 5, 2011

Saturday, November 5, 2011

In Memory of our Beloved Cat, Little Buddy

Today was a very sad day for my son and I... we had to put our little cat, Buddy, to sleep. She was the best little cat. She came to us about seven years ago, a stray. I remember when my son and I were out one day and when we got home, as we were walking towards the door, we heard a faint 'meowing' in the woods. I said to my son, "What the heck is that? A cat??" So we saw her, hiding in the woods, looking at us. We tried to coax her out, and I said to her, "You are like a little baby crying there! Please come out!" She didn't come over right away, so we left food out for her. We could tell that she wasn't a kitten, she looked grown, so I wondered who could just get rid of her, or maybe she was lost? We tried to find out if she was missing, we looked at posters of lost cats... nothing.

My son named her "Buddy" and I called her Little Baby once in a while too, from my thinking of her meowing like a little baby when we first saw her in the woods.

Little Buddy was the best cat. She never gave us any problems, was never sick, was very affectionate, very loyal, very sweet. She was always very healthy all of these years, so it was a surprise to us the week before last that she started breathing funny and not eating well. So after a couple of days of this, we took her to the vet last Saturday and, to make a long story short, the vet advised that she most likely had a heart condition and asthma. The vet suggested we put her to sleep that day! It was a shock. My son wouldn't let us do it. He said we should give her a chance.

So we took her home and for this past week, she just went downhill. Bad, bad breathing, no eating at all, drinking a drop of water every so often (that we had to give to her from a syringe). Even weak, she got up and walked over to the litter box. She was a little trooper, so how can one give up on a cat in the HOPE that she could get better??? But she had gotten SO thin, in one short week. We also resorted to feeding a catfood "slurry" with another syringe, just to get something into her.

Little Buddy was just weak and ready to go last night. I read online that when a cat is dying, they like to remain in a favorite spot, and stay there until they go... She stayed on the end of the couch all night and I stayed up with her to keep her company. She was restless and breathing heavy... Her back leg was starting to go, so she couldn't even move around that well. I'm surprised she made it through the night.

So we took her to the vet this morning to put her out of her misery. It was very sad and I was crying like a baby. My son and I stayed with her to the end, so at least she knew we were there. She got two injections, one to calm her and, after some minutes, another to put her to sleep. The vet said that an animal's hearing, after the shot, is the last thing to go, so we made sure to talk to her so she could hear us and know we were there with her. We left her there to have her cremated, and they will return the ashes to us.

When we got home, the house seemed so lonely! Little Buddy was such a good cat... In all the years that we had her, she never made any trouble. And she was healthy, she never even had any ailments ever. Thus her going downhill so fast made it that much harder to bear.

I also want to thank some of my blogging friends for listening this week and being there for me and for your sympathies when I've emailed you this week. It meant the world to me.

And thank you to all those taking the time to read this story. Here are a few photos of our Little Buddy...

This is a photo of Buddy from September that my son took... she was peacefully sleeping in his room. She looked so healthy and happy, snoozing so nicely...

And this is my favorite of my Little Baby below. Doesn't she look so sweet? And she sure was. I was so lucky to have had this little cat find her way to us. She was just the sweetest thing...