Buddy was a small grey male stray that had come around for eats for about 4 years. I hadn't seen him much in the last 9 months..once in June, once in October...then again Friday night. Except for his eyes he always looked fine. I felt sorry for his being out in our bitterly cold winters, but he always showed up in the Spring. A hurt paw healed a few years ago. All seemed to be fine..I always thought about him and was so happy to see him perched atop the porch rail looking in the backdoor window.
Up the stairs he came Friday night..I was so happy to see him..I noticed a matted bunch of fur on his left cheek/jaw..and when I felt it...it was frozen. Time to come in, I said. I brought the food bowl into the backroom....then I saw the worst injury on a cat in my whole life. From below his ear to where his head met his neck...was split open. There seemed to be two puncture marks....and I think I saw muscle. I got the cat cage and put him and his food into it. I knew he was cold and hungry and injured. He drank 2 1/5 bowls of water and 3 cans of cat food. He seemed weak.....but happy after his meal. I draped the carrier with a thick towel and placed him near the heat vent in the dining room and let him sleep the night there to warm up. He used the litter box in the morning. I knew he couldn't be mended. I suspected he had ocular herpes.....I have two indoor cats. I couldn't keep him, a Vet would charge thousands to fix him up and for what...he wasn't adoptable, I couldn't keep him, so I gave him a wonderful weekend of food, warmth, pettings, kisses, soft bed, freedom with me (my cats were a bit miffed)...and I hope, happiness.
How a cat with those injuries and sore eyes could purr, jump on the bed, asked to be petted...just have so much energy...where did he get it from? I took some beautiful pictures of him so relaxed looking while sleeping on the bed....the pictures beguiled the suffering. If he was suffering he wasn't showing it. Monday morning, I took him to the Humane Society. I knew what they'd do...and they did. He won't suffer out in the cold anymore, he won't know hunger or thirst, he won't know fear or abandonment...he'll only know love at the Rainbow Bridge. He was the sweetest cat, but doomed because of being an outdoor cat. He's loved and missed. My sweet Buddy.
Sorry this is so long...but he deserved some sort of 'obituary'....he warmed my heart every time I saw him.....
Up the stairs he came Friday night..I was so happy to see him..I noticed a matted bunch of fur on his left cheek/jaw..and when I felt it...it was frozen. Time to come in, I said. I brought the food bowl into the backroom....then I saw the worst injury on a cat in my whole life. From below his ear to where his head met his neck...was split open. There seemed to be two puncture marks....and I think I saw muscle. I got the cat cage and put him and his food into it. I knew he was cold and hungry and injured. He drank 2 1/5 bowls of water and 3 cans of cat food. He seemed weak.....but happy after his meal. I draped the carrier with a thick towel and placed him near the heat vent in the dining room and let him sleep the night there to warm up. He used the litter box in the morning. I knew he couldn't be mended. I suspected he had ocular herpes.....I have two indoor cats. I couldn't keep him, a Vet would charge thousands to fix him up and for what...he wasn't adoptable, I couldn't keep him, so I gave him a wonderful weekend of food, warmth, pettings, kisses, soft bed, freedom with me (my cats were a bit miffed)...and I hope, happiness.
How a cat with those injuries and sore eyes could purr, jump on the bed, asked to be petted...just have so much energy...where did he get it from? I took some beautiful pictures of him so relaxed looking while sleeping on the bed....the pictures beguiled the suffering. If he was suffering he wasn't showing it. Monday morning, I took him to the Humane Society. I knew what they'd do...and they did. He won't suffer out in the cold anymore, he won't know hunger or thirst, he won't know fear or abandonment...he'll only know love at the Rainbow Bridge. He was the sweetest cat, but doomed because of being an outdoor cat. He's loved and missed. My sweet Buddy.
Sorry this is so long...but he deserved some sort of 'obituary'....he warmed my heart every time I saw him.....
