A Sad Day for Our Family

Friday morning I noticed our cat was breathing very oddly. The previous week we took her to the vet for issues with her skin, and the day before for her eye being red and swollen. They warned us of a respiratory infection. I called the vet and got her in as soon as I could. We get to the vets and they look her over and tell me there is something seriously wrong with her. So they took x-rays to find out she had pneumonia. They wanted to keep her over night to monitor and give her the appropriate medicine. Okay, we can do that. So we said our goodbyes (the kids were with me) and we went out to our van with out our very loved cat. My kids started to cry. They didn’t want Penny to stay at the vets. A flood of questions from my 7 year old. What’s going to happen to her? When can she come home? Will she be okay?

We call Saturday to find out what is going on with our cat. The vet talked with my husband and told him their game plan. How she needs to stay all weekend to be monitored. That the medicine is not working as great as they had hoped. So they wanted to take some blood work to see what was going on. Sure enough her body was fighting off something, but not doing a very good job of it.

Monday is here. The day we told the kids we could probably go pick Penny up. My husband called the vet. I knew right away after he got off the phone what was going on. Why was this happening? Our cat is not even 2 years old yet. This is our first family pet. This cannot be happening.

The vet gave us a choice. They said that Penny was not getting better like she should be, but instead getting worse. That she was not doing very good at all. She was hooked up to ivs, not eating, not moving and unable to be held. If we wanted to say goodbye now would be the time to come up to do so. We could either wait a couple days to see how she would be or have her put down as they call it. The vet insured us that they were sure the outcome would be the same.

How horrible.

How are you to decide something like that? Growing up we had tons of pets. I mean tons. We had lizards, ferrets, cats, dogs, rabbits, birds… you name it. I’ve seen many come and go. Why is this so hard? I never had a hard time as a child. To me a pet was just a pet. Who knew having children and watching how much they love an animal would change completely how you could feel towards something?

So 4 pm came around. We had to call the vet back to let them know what we had decided. We decided the best thing was to end her suffering, as long as the doctor was certain there was nothing more they could do.

There was nothing anyone could do.

Next on the list was to tell the kids. I could barely walk into the other room to look at my oldest. She is like a hawk and can sense when things are wrong. She asks why I was crying. I play it off as if my head cold is really bothering me and that’s why. We wondered if waiting till the weekend would be better. Well the time came when they were asking when Penny would be home. We said not tonight and they both started in crying. So we figured might as well get it done and over with. How hard was it to tell your children that their best friend is no longer around and will never be coming home. My 4 year old was upset, but didn’t fully grasp the concept. She kept asking when Penny would be coming home. My oldest that is 7 years old had a million questions. Are you sure? Why did the doctors not help her? Are you joking? Why did this happen? Why can’t we help her?

So very, very sad.

Penny was the best cat, she really was. We got her when she was just a couple months old from Lollipop farm last year for the girls birthdays (only a few weeks apart). It was the first cat we looked at and the first family pet we had. From day one she was the girls best friend. They could carry her any where and she would just lay there all calm and friendly. She always slept with my girls – mostly on the oldest. It was always as if she was looking over them at night. In the mornings before school she would be on the couch arm as to say goodbye and the girls would give her a hug and kiss before leaving.

I already miss her. I keep feeling as if I see her out of the corner of my eye walking through the house. As if any moment she will hop up on the bed at night and lay on my feet. As if she will be there when I walk into the kitchen in the morning while I fix breakfast and my coffee. As if she will walk out of the bedroom at night and hop up onto the couch to sit with us as we watch some tv before bed.

How sad and unfair to be taken away from us so soon. My heart aches and I will miss her dearly.