About an hour and a half ago, I saw him outside of his hidey spot. He looked like he was able to crawl out of it and that was it. He looked to be sleeping. I went back in the house and then checked on him fifteen minutes later. He had moved, his head downhill on the bank. I went up to him, and started to pet him.
I met with little resistance. He tried to lift his head and he let out a little hiss. I petted him, realized that I wouldn’t have a problem picking him up.
I ran down the bank and into the house and called the vet’s office. They said I could bring him in.
I got the carrier, I got a towel, I unlocked the car and I went up and picked him up and held him to my shoulder. I wrapped the towel around him and carefully walked down the bank and put him into the carrier. We went to the vet.
His third and last time in a car.
This is the time of day when the doctor does surgeries, and it wasn’t convenient for him to euthanize Meeze. I guess when I called, I wasn’t clear about the situation, they thought it was just some stray feral. But when they found out it was a cat who had been in our yard for over twelve years, one we’d been taking care of, the situation changed. I took him out of the carrier in the waiting room and just held him close to me. I whispered into his neck how much he meant to us, that I wish things had been different.
When Alicia came to take him, I handed him over and she said “he’s not going to do anything is he?” and I just kind of laughed and said “he’s beyond that”. She took him into the back, then asked if I wanted to be with him. I said yes, I did. Once in the examing room, Charlene gave Meeze the sedation and they were going to keep him in the back until the doctor could do the actual euthanization. Charlene asked if I’d like to be there when he passed away and I said “if I could, I never got to do anything with him while he was alive, I don’t want him to die alone”.
By this time Meezer was deeply sedated, so when the doc came in, it didn’t take long for Kitty to pass. He said that from the twitching that he saw KittyMeeze’s body doing, it was obvious he was in kidney failure. He told me that I haven’t seen this with the inside cats, because we’ve caught them before they got this bad.
So, he’s gone. I told him that he would see all of his friends, OC, Gilligan, NotWally, all of the kitties he’d been friends with.
I hope he knows how much we loved him.
It’s going to be weird not worrying about him anymore. Not looking for him when I go outside, not watching for him when I pull into or out of the driveway.
No more ferals. KittyMeeze was the last. He’ll be having a private cremation and we’ll bury his remains with the rest when we move.
I already miss him.
