January 11, 2003 Had to put my cat Kitty Kitty to sleep
Saturday night. When I moved out of the dorm in 1992 and into my first
apartment, I was dating a guy who was allergic to cats. So,
even though I was excited to be able to live somewhere where
I could have a pet, I didn't want my boyfriend to have any
attacks so I put it off. When he broke up with me on
Valentine's day of 1993 I called my friend Mikel to take me
to get a cat. The building I lived in required that cats be
fixed and declawed. I think declawing is cruel and told the
workers at the Golden
Valley Humane Society that I needed a cat already
declawed. They showed me several cats, but none were right.
I told the woman that there must be some other cat I could
see. She said she'd check the list and, yes, there was one
more-- Kitty Kitty. She'd been brought in on Valentine's
Day! It must have been fate. She was 5 and a half when I got
her. A couple of years ago, my coworker, Carla,
found a kitten and I brought her home to keep the then
middle aged Kitty company. Kitty and Missy were never best
friends, but got along all right. Kitty would always guard
the bathroom door when I was in there and before I got
Missy, Kitty would sleep in the crook of my knee at night.
She liked to sit in my lap, but like most cats didn't like
to be bothered too much. She was playful and would bite a
little. I would have to warn people that tried to play with
her. Whenever I leave town my neighbor, Connie, takes care
of all my pets (there are two birds as well). When I came
back to town after a conference this past August Connie told
me Kitty Kitty had not eaten much the last few days. This
was the start of a second bout with renal
failure. Over the next four months I worked hard with my
vet at Cedar
Pet Clinic to try to get Kitty better. Connie and my
friend, Chris,
both helped me to give her subcutaneous fluids and I gave
her lots of medicines. At her last visit in November, Kitty
was down to less then 5 pounds. Last week I knew things were
not going to get any better. She was even skinnier and was
eating almost nothing. I talked to my vet on Thursday and
made plans to take her in to be put down in a week. I needed
time to get myself ready. On Saturday morning Kitty's
breathing was raspy. Around eight I checked on her before
getting ready to go out and found that she had thrown up a
little blood. I knew it was time. I called Chris to take me
to the Animal Emergency Clinic in St. Paul. Connie came over
to say good bye. Chris and our friend, Goodie, drove out
there in Chris' big old truck. I held Kitty on my lap as was
wondered around downtown St. Paul. We found the clinic
around 9:30. The staff there was very nice. Luckily, I had
talked with my vet earlier about how the procedure goes. The
staff was very nice and once the doctor started the
procedure it went very quickly and quietly. The doctor gave
me a flyer of the poem "The
Rainbow Bridge." I read it on the way home. It is sad,
but it is a nice thought. I'm going to miss her. She was the first cat that was all
mine. Now there's just me, Missy,
Freddie
Bird and Maggie
Bird. Maybe one day I'll have to get Missy a kitten to
keep her company.
She had been sick since August and it was time for her to
go.
I had her since she was five and a half.
She was a very good cat and I'm going to miss
her.
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page last modified: Saturday March 15, 2003