**Update, My old cat...He's gone.

[maplesky7]

I think today may be the day. He has labored breathing... I've had him since highschool. He's an outside cat. He has a girlfriend who's aging as well but not like he is.

I've put a towel outside for him to lay on. I've been feeding him wet food. He likes my lounger but he's off that now too. He still purrs and craves attention. I'm just trying to make him as comfortable as possible.

The front 3 seasons porch has a cat door and they can come and go to seek shelter and more food when they so desire.

It's just hard to see them age and have his breathing so labored.

I keep going out to be with him. My girls haven't really experianced anything but goldfish dieing and Grandma's cat being there one day and not the next. I told them she was old and went to heaven.

Today when my oldest came home from school, I told her Fresco probably was going to die today. She said ok somberly and went in to eat the Mcdonald's Grandma had gotten the girls.

I know it's me that rescued him in highschool and it's me that feels his pain and will miss his juvenile delinquent tendancies.

Thanks for listening.

me,
g




*****I put the 2 outside cats in the 3 seasons porch for the night. Us girls gave them a pat and said good night.

I woke up this morning and was bringing them some wet food and I noticed my old guy laying on the side of the litter box...gone. The female cat was not interested in the food as she always is and was instead eager for hugs and to leave the porch.

I woke my girls up and told them that Fresco had died and I was going to make them breakfast and go out and dig a hole. And when they were finished we would bury him together.

We buried him in the chicken yard...since it's mostly dirt and my ferrets and dove are there. I carried him to his final resting place and my 2 year old said "Fresco's happy!", which made me smile because I am reminded "out of the mouths of babes. I said he WAS happy and he was somewhere where there wasn't any more pain and everyone is happy up in Heaven.

I then looked at my 7 year old who started to tear up. I stood up and hugged her and we had a little cry together. I told her I was sorry and he was a nice little cat that we've had for a long time and we'd miss him but we'd see him again in Heaven. All the while the 2 year old is running around the chicken yard saying "happy! happy! happy!" ******

 

[gritsar]

Sorry you are going through this. Keep in mind you gave him a good life.
Perhaps read this poem to your girls when the time comes:

http://rainbowsbridge.com/Poem.htm

It may help. :aww

 

[kbarrett]

:aww

 

[cthrash1]

It's a wonderful thing he was able to live a good full life...Sorry to hear he is closer to the rainbow bridge. Ours just went across it recently too but much younger.

 

[WriterofWords]

Thank God you rescued him way back when and his life was a good long one rather than a short hellish one. He'll send you another rescue I'm willing to bet, one he knows will need a good home and will help to fill that space in your heart.

 

[debilorrah]

When we had to put Buckwheat down, she was 16 years old and she normally weighed 4.5 lbs - we noticed she stopped eating and was shedding excessively. Took her to the vet and she only weighed 2.5 lbs. Poor thing. She was always so spunky we didn't notice her not eating.

I am sorry about losing your cat soon. I love kitties!

 

[silkiechicken]

Sorry that your cat is reaching it's end. My old cat did that this summer. She found us when I was in the 1st grade or so. Assuming she was a kitten when she showed up, she lived at least 16 years as our outdoor kitty. In her last month, she would meow incessantly and just eat and eat and eat but not gain any weight. Her body got stiff and solid and she just disappeared a few days later to probably her favorite place out in the woods.

 

[sdshoars]

i am so sorry about your old man. just make him comfortable as possible, you gave him a good life. *hugs*

 

[lfoose]

I am sorry to hear about and understand how you feel about your cat. My cat was 15 when he died about a month ago. He was my only freind during a very hard childhood. Keep your cat comfy and spend as much time w/him as you can.

 

[maplesky7]

My and my 2 year old just came in from sitting down outside with the cats.

I brought the combs and we gently--(or as gently as the 2 year old could comb--that's why I made her comb the younger spunkier female cat)--combed the cats and gave them lots of pets and scratches. He really relished it. He even stood up and walked over to my toddler so she could get her pets in. He's so funny. What cat LIKES a toddler?

I didn't give him the round of flea prevention because it says not to on animals who's health is compromised. So I've been combing him instead.

Since last winter he'd been shedding like crazy and loosing weight. And I did the math and he is 16 years old too...or maybe 17?

He was probably just one of the local barn cats that wondered off a farm. He is white and orange and has swirls of orange on his side, hence the name, Fresco. An artist term...art of painting on plaster that is still moist. But his coloring and swirls were so dramatic.

I fed him. Mom and dad told me not too. They said he can't come in...I would come home from school and sneak him up to my bedroom and put him out before dad got home from work.

Not long after, I stopped putting him out. One day, dad came home from work and changed his clothes. Sat on the recliner the way he does after supper. I came down the stairs and found Fresco sharing dad's recliner with my dad and dad was petting him. I kept walking and pretended not to notice but realizing this was a turning point in our lives. He was now accepted into the family.

My dad passed away in 2000. My husband and I bought my childhood home in 2001. The cats stayed. The black and white rescue from University of Iowa from my sister just passed last year. I had talked my mom into taking him into her home, to spend the winter since his wieght and coat, I feared would not sustain him in the winter.

The orange long hair tabby my oldest sister abandoned was with my mom previously since she was the one who didn't take kind to multiple cats and she passed several years ago. She though, was the mother of my highschool cat, who I ADORED! named Harley. He died from feline urinary syndrome when he was 3 and along came waltzing....


Fresco around this time of the year back in 91. Walkin in like he owned the place. Even caught me a mouse that day.

Thank you for all of your kind words my fellow chicken fanciers.

me,
g