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His name was Toonces and he was 17 1/2 years old. I had him since I was barely 15.  He had started to develop chronic kidney disease over the last 2 to 3 years and even though I was giving him fluids at home every week, it really started to get the best of him over the past few weeks.  He was also having some breathing problems starting to crop up and was anemic pretty severely yesterday as well.

He had lost about 45% of his weight as well over the last 3 years which isn't good, most of that weight loss began to rapidly occur around the start of this year.

But he was fighter and got the best care from me that anyone could offer.   

The vet recommended to me that if not that day, I should seriously think about putting him down sometime soon before he got too bad. 

One of the hardest things that I've ever had to do but I went ahead and said goodbye to my cat.  I just didn't want him getting so miserable that he couldn't enjoy life anymore and he was getting to that point quickly. 

I'm thinking of getting me another cat named Swaigo that's up for adoption at the vet for cats that I go to.  My mother said I should wait a while to see what I want to do but I know that I'll miss not having a cat running around my house.  Swaigo is really cool but doesn't like being around other cats which is perfect for me as I only like to own one anyway.

Anyway, I didn't know who on here knew about my cat's problems at all but I thought I would pass along this sad news.

Torgo, I am sorry to hear that my friend.  I can relate.  My Francine is 14.5 years old, has chronic kidney failure, and for nearly a year has been getting the fluids treatment every day...  She also gets a medicine, plus special diet.  Almost exactly one year ago I was faced with putting her down.  I was at first leery about the "treatment" the Vet recommended, but it is now daily routine.  She bounced back and is much her old self.  I am also lucky that she has always been tolerant, and though she has all of her claws, she has no mean streak (as many cats do) and though she hides from me before "treatment" time, I think somewhere in her "bubblehead" she knows that I love her and it's for her own good.  She had been very ill, sitting in her own waste, hiding in the closet, not eating, lost most of her weight (she was down to 3 pounds and still has the boniest ass I've ever seen on a cat...)  But I am terribly grateful that she's still with me.  Even at her sickest, I would duck my head into the closet where she had her hiding place and get as close to her as possible... and with the vomiting, diarrhea (you name it) she still had "pretty purr" for me.  

If you like Swaigo give him a home.  If you're a one-cat person (like Swaigo) it sounds like a match.  If you were considering a dog, I would take your Mom's advice.  With a cat in need of a home that you like, I say: GO FOR IT!

I must admit to being all too attached to my Babe (after vowing nearly 30 years ago when my first cat died to never having another one!)  But, it's the way it is and I would do just about anything for this cat, my Pinkyloo.  
(http://i239.photobucket.com/albums/ff259/allhallowsday/BABEsnip.jpg)

I am not a cat person, but losing a pet is always hard.  One who had been with you for so long even more so.  My best to you and to Toonces.

I have two cats and my best wishes go out to you. 

So sorry to hear about Toonces. I remember you mentioning him around here.

Last year I had to put my cat Harvey to sleep after he suffered a series of strokes. He had just past his 20th (!) birthday. Fortunately he only really started having serious health problems in the last month of his life.

I'll echo Allhallowsday on Swaigo. If you feel he's a good match: go for it!

I'm sorry to hear that, Torgo.

Wow, sorry to hear about that Torgo.  Best wishes to you as you grieve and adjust.

My sympathies too.  I'm not a cat person, but I just substitute the word "dog" and I can remember how I felt losing some of my past companions: Tessie, Tippy, Coco, Gumbo, Snickers...  And 15 years is a long time, almost half your life.  Hard to comprehend.

On the question of adopting Swaigo, it's been my personal experience that getting a new pet seems healthy and right.  But of course it's a highly individual choice.  This page has some advice you might find useful.

http://www.pet-loss.net/newpet.html

I appreciate all of the kind words.  It's been only a day but it's so weird not having my cat Toonces around. I found myself expecting him at any point today to come wandering into my living room checking to see what I was up to.

I've got an outdoor cat that I nicknamed Abbie that I've been feeding some. From what I can tell she's a stray cat but she's gotten really attached to me. I'm not sure however how she would adapt to being an indoors cat as she's still really skittish and wants to prowl. I want to take her to the vet to get her checked out but trying to get her into a carrier so far has been disastrous.

I'm going to check on Swaigo tomorrow to get some more information since I have a 3 year old nephew that comes over quite a bit and I want to make sure he's friendly around toddlers.

I might just take a break and take plenty of time getting a cat instead of jumping right back into it. I'm going to see if Abbie would come into my house any if I leave my kitchen door open. 

I can relate. I had my cat since i was 10 years old. She was always very healthy, but suddenly one day she stopped eating and drinking. Vet said she was in sudden renal failure and it came as an overwhelming shock. Honestly it was one of the most painful things having to decide when to put her down, but strangely she let me know. She was 18 and a trooper until the end, pretending to drink water from my hand just to make me happy...and still comforting me when i was sick at th same time. She was there when i was a kid, a teenager, dating, going through bad times, grown up, jobs, no matter what was inconsistent in my life..she was there. I took it really hard, because it was so damn sudden and having to watch her wilt away before my eyes really hurt because they are little living things that deserve to have comfort and love, and you feel guilty for not being able to give them more years.

It's a personal decision when or if to get another pet. For me it took 4 years. My new cat is the craziest ball of joy ever. She's a ninja and loves belly rubs and has the most unique cat personality i've ever seen. So it was worth the wait and it was the right time for me.

I have to say don't rush just to have the sound of cat feet..my cousin immediately got another cat when hers died...it was pretty sick with diabetes and she went through a lot emotionally and financially giving it meds. She didn't give herself enough time to really honor the pet, she just wanted to forget the pain by getting a new one. Unfortunately she ended up with a cat that turned out to have IBD and requires special care because of it's sickness.

Thanks Susan, I get a huge kick out of reading your Ninja Cat's "blogs" on her private web page.   :teddyr:

My mom told me the same thing.  I'm in Toonces withdrawal at the moment and it'll take a while before I'm through that.

Swaigo is an awesome cat but I just don't know how friendly he will be with my 3 year old nephew.

I'll keep feeing Abbie the outdoor cat in the meantime and maybe if she got brave enough to let me take her to a vet I could get her looked at as her right eye seems to be kind of runny at times like she's got some kind of allergy in it, maybe a slight infection.  But she won't allow me to pick her up though I can pet her as much as I like.   

  Sad news. I'm not a big cat fancier myself...but one of saddest days of my life was sitting ou t in the yard with my pal Inky...my dog when he died. He had been hit by a truck .We lived in the boonies...he would occasionally cross the road to run rabbits out of the ancient junk yard out across the fields. He was coming home-and  was crossing the road,when a tow truck flew up over the hill and smacked him.  Me and my brother Richie saw it happen. I was 15. We had that dog since I was 9.

    Sorry to hear it. Chin up, man.

My condolences. I am a big animal person and since my wife and I have chosen not to have offspring of our own, our pets have become our children, so I can relate to that feeling of loss. We've both had cats and dogs over the years and just in January of this year I lost my dog that I had before I met the wife. That dog and I had a special bond, so when he died I was utterly devastated. Even now, I will get teary-eyed when thinking of him. The house just seemed so silent and empty after he died.

Hang in there Torgo, for me i needed that grieving period. I don't think it matters if you're a cat person, dog person, it's just the companionship and love for a life. Strangely last year i found myself online at petfinder.org looking at kittens. I even made an attempt to adopt and was infuriated when i was rejected because i wasn't the ideal candidate. Apparently you have to be jobless and be at home 24 hours a day with a house full of cats to adopt from this one agency. And after a 2nd failed attempt i thought to myself this country has literally millions of homeless cats and i can't manage to get 1?? I got in the car and that old song "Year of the cat" came on. Sounds hokey but it gave me a little hope that maybe it was the right time to get a new cat after all. And i did.

So whether it's a week from now or years, i think you'll know when you really are ready. Just be careful not to rush into getting a new one, there's no rush. You want the right cat, so considering you have a toddler over it is soething to consider in your adoption process. In any case I'm sorry for your loss, i know that sometimes it hits us when we least expect it, you suddenly think you hear them coming into the room and they aren't there.

I got mad once when a coworkers cat died and she asked for a day off so she could take care of things. My boss just looked down her nose and said "It's JUST a cat, it's not like it's a child". I found that to be a really inconsiderate thing to say,  you can't compare one love to another like that. and a comment like that is really putting judgement on where someone places their love. I would enjoy hearing a buddhist monks' response to that.

in my mind an animal is child-like. Because when something is wrong with them you can't explain to them the diagnoses or what's going to happen. I felt incredible guilt the day I had to put her down because it was such a beautiful morning and i took her outside and held her for hours, i wished that there was some way i could have let her know that was her last day. YOu wish that you could communicate and ask when they are ready, i think in away she knew and gave me a sign that she was letting go when she made a gesture that she never once made in her life by resting her head on my cheek. (She was an extremely face-shy cat). So because they have a bit of innocence, it is a bit heartbreaking.

thanks for reminding me about mia's blog, i had banned her from the internet when i caught her surfing on porn sites..lol  She may be posting shortly

I am sorry to hear that.  You have my sympathy.  We have 3 late-middle age cats, so its been on my mind of late.   Take care
-Ed

Being a big cat lover myself, I understand how you feel.

Many years ago (this would've been around 1986) when I was about 12, my family took in a full grown stray who ended up living with us for several years. 
He was the mangiest looking thing you ever did see but he was so friendly.   :smile:
We named him Buddy.

He was allowed to go outside and he'd prowl the neighborhood for days at a time...but he'd always come back.
We'd clean him up and bathe him but then he'd leave and come back with burs in his fur and other various stains on him.

One day, he left and didn't come back for almost two weeks...which really upset me at the time.
Then, out of the blue, he just showed up scratching at the back door.
The good thing was that he came back.
The bad thing was that he was cut up bad and missing his left eye.   :buggedout:
It was pretty nasty...just an empty slot with loads of green mucus oozing out of it.
(I can close my eyes and still see that horrible wound in my mind)
I assumed he got into a pretty bad brawl with another cat or cats.

We took him to the vet but were told that he had a massive infection and we had to put him down right then and there.
That was tough for me.

---------------------------------------------------

By the way, when I heard your cat's name, I racked my brain trying to figure out where I'd heard the name Toonces before.
Then it occurred to me...it's from Saturday Night Live!

Hope this cheers you up!

Toonces the Driving Cat
[youtube=425,350]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sA4djg6ILxU

:bluesad:

Peace and love my friend, peace and love.

Sorry for your loss Torgo. I'm not a cat person, but I've had to bury a couple of dogs in my time and know how it is to lose an old pal like that.

We did have a Siamese named Boots while I was growing up.  That cat could open door knobs by herself and we had an old telephone shelf on the living room wall that she slept on.  She would actually groom our dogs, but if strange dog showed up she knew how to show him the way home.

She lived to the ripe old age of 18 and got to point of not being able to get around anymore when my Mom had her put down.

Like I said, I'm so sorry you lost your friend.

Condolences, Torgo. I'm sorry to hear of your loss.

A friend of mine had a cat that adopted him (showed up on his doorstep and wouldn't leave). He wasn't sure how old she was, but she stayed with him for 18+ years. He married late in life, when the cat, Shir-ka, was really getting old. Shir-ka was showing her age, and one day, it seemed that she decided my friend was being taken good care of by his new wife (in other words, my friend was in good hands), and so she (the cat) crawled into a basket of his laundry, laid down, and let herself go. It was like she simply refused to die until she knew my friend would be okay. They found a statue that resembled her, painted it to look like her, and keep it in her memory. It was very tough on my friend, and apparently on me, too; I'm tearing up a bit just remembering her.  :bluesad:

My condolences.  I've had to bury three dogs over my life -- it never gets easier.

I think that I'm going to give that outdoor cat named Abbie a proper chance to see if I can get her comfortable enough to turn her into a proper indoor cat.

I was out petting her on Tuesday and a yellow jacket landed near me so I took off my flip flop to smash it.  I think that Abbie thought I was swinging the flip flop at her as she took off and was really wary of me for the rest of the day.  She's gotten back into her normal swing of things a bit but she's still a bit nervous after that but we're getting back to where we used to be.

I need to get her checked out though at some vet so I called a free service called Angels of the CC that offer pet services for free and I'm going to see if they can come out to my house to check her out and see what makes her right eye kind of watery.

But I truly appreciate all of the kind words and sympathies everyone, one thing I have always told people about this site is that of all of the forums/boards that I've frequented, Badmovies.org has the coolest bunch of people around.   :thumbup:   

Good idea; I think Abbie has stolen your heart... let me tell you, when I lost my dog nearly 10 years ago,  I did not want any more !!!  So, I understand being reluctant to dive right back in.  But, sometimes, you have to sacrifice in order to gain something, and, well, when a good animal needs a home, a true animal lover can't stand by idley.  I love cats, one reason being they're very easy to take care of!  Francine walked into my life and would not leave.  What could I do?  Gave her a flea bath and she's essentially been with me since. 

:thumbup: ...back at ya... other than the badmovies forum, here's the coolest group I know:
(http://i239.photobucket.com/albums/ff259/allhallowsday/BABEboobooloverSz.jpg)

That's a really great looking group of animals there.

The cat is cool with the dogs 'cause she was raised with Sam, a scottie, who died 9 years ago.  Sam is buried in my yard.  The cat and the scottie would wrestle... honest!  

Of these three, they're all good; the beagle who I call Beauty, the jack russell terrier who I call Chicken (the dogs are both 9) and of course that's Pinkyloo in the background who I call Babe.  :twirl:

I've always heard that Beagles are great dogs to have around if you have children.  My Dad (who passed away a little over 4 years ago) took in a beagle that he named Beagle Buddy ( :teddyr: ) at his farm that he retired to.  It had some sort of esophagus problem that prohibited it from eating solid food so my Dad had to blend up all his food so that he could slurp it down.  My Dad and his wife took it to the vet and it turned that someone had shot at the dog with some buck shot and that is why it's esophagus was all crooked and messed up.  They gave the dog only 1 year to live.

He is a really humble dog that would cower down when you walked up to him (especially men) and then relax once you started rubbing his belly or ears and he chilled out.

Flash forward 7 years to today and Beagle Buddy is still doing just fine.  If I could have at the time I would taken him in when we had to sell my Dad's farm after he died and everything, but his wife still has ownership of him and takes care of him just fine even though I can't stand the woman.

 :bluesad: Sorry to hear about that and my condolences, Torgo.

All the best to you, my friend: keep Toonces in your heart and Swaigo in your arms.

Warm hugs  :smile:

Trevor

I'm sorry to hear about your loss Torgo, but I support your decision. Between my own home and my grandparents' home I've seen lots of dogs, cats and other pets that have had to be put to sleep and though it's never an easy experience, you know in your heart that it's better than being selfish and holding onto them as long as possible while ignoring the pain that they're going through.

Whenever we lose a pet though we look at it as an opportunity to give the same kind of loving home to another animal who deserves it. It's not an attempt to replace the lost pet, because we still hold onto the memories and the love for every pet that passes and we never forget them. Unfortunately we all know that there are few animals we'll ever be able to have as pets that will outlive us, so we have to accept the mortality of everyone we do take into our lives, but as I said, each happy and loved companion that does pass on is chance to give another needy pet that same life fulfillment.

But, again, that doesn't always make a loss any better, so my fiancee and I offer our sympathies. Good luck to you and yours Torgo.

 :cheers:

My sympathies go out to you.  I had my first cat for about 18 years or so, she finally got arthritis really bad and on her last day she wasn't able to move at all anymore.  She was meowing all night and I held my hand on her all night to comfort her.  When we had her put to sleep it was truly the saddest day of my life. 

After a few months I got Scooter from the local animal shelter, a big old tomcat that loves to play.  He was locked in his cage for so long at the humane society that when we got him home, he was absolutely desperate to play, he'd run after his little foam rubber ball until he was lying on the ground panting, and as soon as he caught his breath he'd want me to throw it some more.  Right now he's walking over my keyboard, making it a little difficult to type  :teddyr:

So get yourself another cat, kitties need love!

I am sorry for your loss, we have always had cats and dogs and I know that loosing one is like loosing a family member.

Since I decided to pass on adopting Swaigo I would like to give an update that a younger couple with a child adopted him today since I passed at the moment.

They don't have any other cats and he's supposed to be very easy going with children so this should be a perfect house for him.

I'm still feeding Abbie and the neighbor's cat that I nicknamed Notch across the street from my house has been wandering over again for me to pet her and feed her (feeding being the operative thing).

I literally had to put my cat to sleep yesterday too!  It was utterly heartbreaking.  I had her for 20 years!  I can't believe she's gone.  Thankfully, I believe everything's for a reason and I started volunteering at a local, no kill, cat shelter the day after she past, today.  The timing all happened to coincide.  I already had it planned before I knew she was going to pass.  Anyway, my condolences to you, and I know you will see her again in time,  as I will be reunited with my beloved kitty too.   Just rejoice in  all the good times and memories you had together.  Although it is painful now, if you grieve properly, let the tears flow as they arise, you will heal in time...

My sympathies to you Torgo.  I've never been a pet person myself, but I have seen the devastation on people's faces when their beloved one dies.

My sister has a Staffy dog and she's had it since the dog was weaned from it's mother.  so my sister is really the only mother Casey has ever known.  She's about 60 in human years now, but I know when her time comes my sister will be devastated and probably need counselling.

This is how long I'm around.  I wrote this commentary about my Babe almost 12 years ago.  Today is the 10th anniversary of her death.  I've been looking for an online pic...