Randi was my cat of 17+ years who we was forced to put down almost 2 years ago, she was close to death at the time and hardly moved at all and wouldn’t/couldn’t purr, I got to hold her as the Dr gave her the shot and she passed on 30 or so seconds later in my arms.
Aurora was yesterday and we knew her time was close; she was always a skinny cat but had lost a lot of weight in the last month and was just doing things that for her was not normal. (Hiding in places she never hides in both outside and inside etc) so we knew the time was close. But she was still somewhat active and bitchy as ever and purring but not as much and hardly eating/drinking at all. She was always a solitary cat to begin with, but wanted to be alone more so then normal, so I think she was looking for a place to die on her own.
I had contacted the Vet a few months ago to get questions answered etc so my wife would not have to deal with it and when we took her in to the Vet yesterday we had 3 nurses ask Aurora’s age and when we said over 17 they was all like “WOW!†and then the Vet came in and she asked her age and we again said over 17 and she was the same “WOW!†then she asked the last time we took her to a vet and we said 10+ years and the mood turned and she got pissy.
She literally said “Well, had you brought her in for yearly checkups she would be here until she was 18.â€
I got pretty pissed, I’m crying, Pauline is a wreck and this bitch has no heart. So after a few minutes she determines Auroras kidneys had shut down and the only thing left was to put her to sleep. So after some hard crying we agreed and the nurse asked me to pay first so I went back to the front desk and paid and the other nurse told me we would not be allowed to hold her. After demanding that Pauline got to hold her during it they finally agreed to put her to sleep with gas and then bring her back to us and they gave the shot.
Supposedly there is a law that says we can not be in the same room where there is gas in use, no idea this is news to me but I was not in the mood to argue and that was not the time or place to bitch at us because we do not believe in getting cats shots they don’t need. But what do we know we both had cats live 17+ years with out shots.
Pauline got to hold her and her death was much faster the Randi’s. I took Pauline home and then went back to make arrangements for the cremation and ash’s and paw print they will cast of her paw with her name on it. Same thing I had done with Randi. Needless to say we will not be returning back there in the future once we have her ash’s I am still pretty pissed over the Vets attitude and lack of tact. I just think she could have worded that better and the tone at which she said it was pretty shitty so that made it worse.
Today I am struggling just to get some work done, I have a huge project that I need to do and have ready by the end of the month that will take me that long to do, and I am struggling to stay focused. I am very lonely which is not what I expected.
For the last 6 years of working online and for the most part I have spent it at my desk, and for 4 years I had Randi on my desk and when she passed Aurora took over and would always flip her tail on my mouse and then bitch at me for moving my mouse and yesterday was the first time in a long time I didn’t have a cat on my desk. We still have 2 others, but I rarely see them when Pauline isn’t home, they normally sleep in the living room and bedroom all day and follow Pauline around. It’s just “lonely†in this office now.
Pauline is actually dealing with it better then I expected, she completely lost it at the vets and we both have been tearing up since yesterday, but we are getting through it but only because we have to.
The thing that is really bothering me is Aurora was a prissy cat, she demanded 2 extra litter boxes for her only so we had 4 boxes total, if not she made mess’s and other things we did for this stuck up cat, now we no longer have to cater to her demands and it’s just weird that after 13+ years of having her (Pauline had her 4 years before we met) that we just have 2 “typical†cats who behave like typical cats, no special needs to make them happy, so we are back down to 2 boxes. Geeze the stupid shit you will miss.
I know I have been very lucky in life I have never lost a person that I was close to. I have lost aunts and grand parents etc, but never someone close to me other then Randi and Aurora, so it’s a true heart breaker.