Beat: My cat is dying

[Daliman]

Back in February 1994, I was living in an apartment by myself, working 50 hours a week selling tires for ~22k a year. My GF of 3 years and I weren't getting along all that great. She had brought over a kitten she recently got and happened to leave some litter and food at my house. I had been thinking about getting a cat for awhile, and decided after she brought her cute kitten over to get one of my own. It was a Saturday, my GF and I were supposed to go out later that night,and I left for work at ~7:30am, was working until we closed at 5pm. As I was walking out the door to close up the shop at ~5:20, a customer who had just had a flat tire fixed at our store came back with his tire flat again. I started the compressors back up and changed the tire myself, selling them a new one. They were very happy I hadn't left and agreed to work after hours, which made me feel better about getting home late to get ready to out out with the GF at ~8. I left work at ~6:30 and got home 20 minutes later. As I was walking up the stairs to my apartment, I saw a cat curled up in the corner of the 2nd flight landing. It didn't have a collar on, and looked a bit unkempt, if well-fed. There were a fair amount of strays around tho, and they used to go in the dumpster behind the restuarant near my house for snacks all the time, so this didn't seem too unusual.

I kneel down to pet the cat at see if he is friendly, and he rolls over a bit to show me where the good spot on his belly is. I pick him up and bring him inside, as it is ~20 degrees outside, and pour him some of the cat food my GF left. He ate the whole bowl, drank some water, took a crap, and he was home.

Bill had always been a fat cat, usually weighting 17-21 lbs, and as much as 23 lbs at one point. He used to be fat enough to roll on his back fat and sit with all four paws in the air, like a roach, which friends always got a kick out of. His belly would always jiggle from side to side under him when he would walk, which we called his dewlap. He was never the type of cat that just sat under bed all day. He was friendly without being overly so, and loved to sit on the couch or the desk next to me and I swear he'd had cracked open a beer for himself if I ever kept any around the house.

About 1.5 years ago, Bill's weight started dropping. We figured he was just getting old, but we didn't really know how old he was. He was full grown when I got him, I would guess he was 3 or 4. Either way, he was obviously getting up in years and 13 at a minimum. In April of this year, I was concerned about the weight loss and brought him to the vet. He was brought in in Feb 2005 for shots, and weighed 17.8 lbs at the time. In april of this year, he was down to 8.9 lbs. He was prescribed thyroid and kidney medicine. in late August, I brought him in again, and he was down to 7.1 lbs, but nothing otherwise looked wrong with him. Last night, I noticed he hadn't been eating, even when food, water or milk was put right in front of him. I sat down next to him on the floor and pet him for about 20 minutes, and I'm not ashamed to say I shed a few tears. I'd never had any other pet for more than a year before Bill, and he's been with me through 4 GF's, 4 homes, 1 wife and 2.8 kids. Other than my brother and mother, no one else has ever spent half as much time with me as he has. Tonight, while I was playing a session, my wife brought him in and said I should probably take him to the vet, as she thinks he may have cancer. Before the last day or so, even though he was losing weight, he seemed fine. Usually when a cat is in pain, they withdraw from people, and Bill was still sleeping in bed with my son and coming around for his morning milk. Last few days though he has been lying down an inordinate amount of time, and he has an odd odor about him now, which my wife says was the same odor her cat with cancer had right before he died.

I've never really had to deal with the death of a pet. Pets I've had before were usually given away for one reason or another. It's been a long time coming, and all 4 of our pets are at the age that they are probably going to be gone inside 5 years. When my wife's oldest dog dies, (he's 12 ) she's probably going to have to take a week off of work. We likely won't be getting any more pets, for various reasons, and the fact that this is the beginning of a sad cycle isn't lost on me. Tomorrow, I will take Bill to the vet, and he will likely need to be put to sleep. I'll probably cry a lot, cuz I'm a wuss like that. But I'll always love and remember the cat that made all my cat-hating friends like 1 cat in particular.

Cliffs notes: Daliman is a wuss, and his cat is dying.

[d0nkaments]

Geez sorry man. I have a cat too

[absoludicrous]

tl:dr, sorry, I [img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img] cats, have two of them, they're [censored] awesome. Sorry man

[Phresh]

I'm really sorry man. I've had 2 cats exhibit the same problems as Bill. My first cat was with me my entire life. He died on my 13th birthday, around the age of 16. He started losing weight, shedding fur, and crapping in the house for months before it happened. It was a very sad time as we knew he was dying, but were too poor to have him put down.

Our other cat, who was with us during our first cat's demise, died a few years back. She also had saddle bags that swayed when she walked, lol. She started losing weight and became very despondent. We were going to take her into the vet the day we found her dead. [img]/images/graemlins/frown.gif[/img]

Losing pets is very traumatic and you are not a wuss for crying. It's very hard losing someone you care about, especially when they've been with you for such a long time.

Sorry, Dali. 13 years is a long time for a cat and it sounds like he wouldn't have had such a great 13 years without you.

[Windforce]

cliffnotes someone?

[deadfromsuckouts]

He made you a better person. Take some time to grieve. Then live your life fuller to make him proud.

[React1oN]

[ QUOTE ]
He made you a better person. Take some time to grieve. Then live your life fuller to make him proud.

[/ QUOTE ]I don't think cats can be proud.

[Daliman]

[ QUOTE ]
cliffnotes someone?

[/ QUOTE ]
Try the end of the OP, lazy.

[Cashman187]

but how much did u loose?

[deadfromsuckouts]

Can he still live a better life regardless?