Sometimes Doing the Right Thing. . .

When Mother Cat brought us her first litter five or six years ago, one of the males had Siamese-like markings even though Mother is a Tortie and Dad Cat was just plain black and white. Dad Cat took a dislike to the “Siamese” kitten when the kitten began to mature. The kitten left the abuse and move to safer surroundings. He found a nice lady up the street from our house who fed him and several other strays in the neighborhood. He would come back to see us every now and then after we captured Dad Cat and took him to the pound. Over the years I would see him at the neighbor’s house and while he was a bit rough looking with his shredded ear and scars on his face, he always looked well-fed.

About two weeks ago he showed up again at our house emaciated. The poor thing didn’t look as if he would last the night. I fed him and he ate. I thought maybe the lady had stopped feeding him because we had seen several puppies playing in her yard. After the first week I realized that even though he was eating pretty well, he wasn’t putting on any weight, and he seemed to be getting weaker. I took him to the vet yesterday.

The vet checked him out and noted that his colon was huge. He said that any steps that we could take would be risky and would be “unpleasant” for the cat. We made the decision to have the cat put down.

It broke my heart. He was a sweet cat who had enjoyed very little comfort in his life. I think that he had to find warm places to sleep in the winter and suffer in the hellish South Carolina heat in the summer. At least I know that in the last few weeks of his life, he could come in to stretch out on the cool floor in my kitchen and he received a little affection from Mr. Fixit and me, Mother Cat, and his half brothers.

I asked to vet to test him for feline leukemia after he had been euthanized. The test came back positive. Now my other cats are at risk since they ate together and were associated for these past few weeks. I dread having them tested because a positive test is a death sentence. I don’t know if I can face making the final decision when my four best friends are concerned.