Show us your pets!

[bambu101]

Sorry about Patches. I can definitely relate, as I had to make the difficult decision to have our Kitty put to sleep yesterday.

She showed up 4 years ago after a bear had gotten into the garbage, and I looked out the window to see this beautiful gray cat surveying the buffet spread out around her. Our neighbors had moved away about 10 days prior to her showing up, and we believe they cruelly abandoned her to starve to death. She was very skittish and her ribs were sticking out. I fed her, and she was here to stay. My SO hates cats, so it was difficult at times for him to tolerate all her normal kitty behaviors, like walking on his freshly washed car and hunting mice and chipmunks.

Kitty followed me everywhere outside, and spent hours sitting on the stone wall, just waiting for a juicy chipmunk to poke his head out. She would sit in the shade of some plant in my garden while I weeded away. She also loved to bound over the top of deep snow, leaving these bizarre "belly prints" behind.

About a week ago, I noticed she was pretty lethargic, and then she was digging at one ear. It seemed to be infected by Sunday, and I didn't see her eat or drink. By Monday, her eye and nose was runny, and she kept swallowing. She would still purr like crazy when I petted her. I took her to the vet, thinking ahe had an ear /respiratory infection, and was shocked to hear that she had a malignant tumor on the side of her head under her ear, a high fever, and was dehydrated. The tumor was inoperable, and she was in pain and suffering, so we helped her to pass on and leave the pain behind.

Pete will make her a beautiful casket today, and she will rest at the edge of the woods near our departed birds.

Even though she was discarded like a piece of cast-off trash, she was loved and had a good home with us for the last 4 years. I will miss her terribly.

Rest in peace, Kitty.