Suddenly catless
Sep. 6th, 2017 09:25 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
newnumber6My cat died yesterday.
The last time I had a cat die (about 2 years ago), it was expected, he was gradually getting sicker and listless and then for a few days was having difficulty moving at all and we'd scheduled a vet appointment but prepared that we might have to put him to sleep (or surrender custody so he could get care we couldn't afford), and then he died before the appointment.
This time, he was doing mostly fine, he was still an older cat, but he was active and seemed happy and healthy (I had, earlier that morning, thought about how he was looking thinner than he should be considering how he eats regularly but I wasn't thinking of it as an immediate danger considering his otherwise good health), and even just hours before he was trying to hop up to beg for human food (I use the word 'trying' not because he had difficulties, but because it was too high for a simple hop and he knew he wasn't allowed anyway so he'd just raise his front paws as far as he could to beg and hope for a chance later to steal some off an unattended plate). Then, when it came time for his evening feeding of wet food, my brother found him lying dead on the kitchen floor. No idea what caused it. Probably never will. We were both stunned and wrecked... we were the first time, too, but, we could console ourselves with the fact that he was older and declining health and at least wasn't suffering any more. And we had another cat to take care of. This time there's none of that (except, possibly he's not suffering if there was an issue that we just weren't aware of) so there's just shock and wondering if we could have done something to accidentally cause it or didn't do something to prevent it. Slept like crap last night because of it, and woke up missing him more because I always fed him after waking up and he was always waiting for me to do so. Instead today have to go to deal with the body before work.
Goodbye Deacon, rest in peace.
The last time I had a cat die (about 2 years ago), it was expected, he was gradually getting sicker and listless and then for a few days was having difficulty moving at all and we'd scheduled a vet appointment but prepared that we might have to put him to sleep (or surrender custody so he could get care we couldn't afford), and then he died before the appointment.
This time, he was doing mostly fine, he was still an older cat, but he was active and seemed happy and healthy (I had, earlier that morning, thought about how he was looking thinner than he should be considering how he eats regularly but I wasn't thinking of it as an immediate danger considering his otherwise good health), and even just hours before he was trying to hop up to beg for human food (I use the word 'trying' not because he had difficulties, but because it was too high for a simple hop and he knew he wasn't allowed anyway so he'd just raise his front paws as far as he could to beg and hope for a chance later to steal some off an unattended plate). Then, when it came time for his evening feeding of wet food, my brother found him lying dead on the kitchen floor. No idea what caused it. Probably never will. We were both stunned and wrecked... we were the first time, too, but, we could console ourselves with the fact that he was older and declining health and at least wasn't suffering any more. And we had another cat to take care of. This time there's none of that (except, possibly he's not suffering if there was an issue that we just weren't aware of) so there's just shock and wondering if we could have done something to accidentally cause it or didn't do something to prevent it. Slept like crap last night because of it, and woke up missing him more because I always fed him after waking up and he was always waiting for me to do so. Instead today have to go to deal with the body before work.
Goodbye Deacon, rest in peace.
