Goodbye, Black Cat
Discussion
As the more regular visitors here will know, we have had a cat, "Black Cat", for just over two years.
He was, as the vet used to call him, "an old Bruiser". He had lots of bits missing from his ears where he'd been in fights.
He appeared about a year after Guzzi did, he was the only cat Guz' would have any dealings with, I'm sure Black Cat looked after Guz' when he was young, and Guz' let him in to his hotel as a favour.
Guz' had a lot of trouble with a local Tabby picking on him, until the Tabby turned up one day when Black Cat was here. Tabby does lots of meowing and taunting of Guzzi, until Black Cat walked over, past Guz' and straight at Tabby, just walking slowly, straight at him. Tabby looked at Black Cat, and decided discretion was the better part of valour, and ran off.
Over the years we took him to the vets, and he was diagnosed FIV positive. We had him innoculated for cat flu, and he showed little sign of FIV. Until earlier this year, when he started to lose weight and lose his appetite. His weight went down to just over three kilos.
He became more and more picky with his food, even turning his nose up at chinese chicken, which he used to love.
We were waiting for him to give us a sign that he'd had enough, but he continued to sit on the bedside cabinet for tickles.
He went out for a walk on Friday evening, and he hasn't come back.
We can only assume that he had decided that his time had come, and that he's gone to wait at the rainbow bridge for us.
It was an honour to have the chap around, and we miss him dearly.
Farewell, Black Cat.
maggit and Lorraine
He was, as the vet used to call him, "an old Bruiser". He had lots of bits missing from his ears where he'd been in fights.
He appeared about a year after Guzzi did, he was the only cat Guz' would have any dealings with, I'm sure Black Cat looked after Guz' when he was young, and Guz' let him in to his hotel as a favour.
Guz' had a lot of trouble with a local Tabby picking on him, until the Tabby turned up one day when Black Cat was here. Tabby does lots of meowing and taunting of Guzzi, until Black Cat walked over, past Guz' and straight at Tabby, just walking slowly, straight at him. Tabby looked at Black Cat, and decided discretion was the better part of valour, and ran off.
Over the years we took him to the vets, and he was diagnosed FIV positive. We had him innoculated for cat flu, and he showed little sign of FIV. Until earlier this year, when he started to lose weight and lose his appetite. His weight went down to just over three kilos.
He became more and more picky with his food, even turning his nose up at chinese chicken, which he used to love.
We were waiting for him to give us a sign that he'd had enough, but he continued to sit on the bedside cabinet for tickles.
He went out for a walk on Friday evening, and he hasn't come back.
We can only assume that he had decided that his time had come, and that he's gone to wait at the rainbow bridge for us.
It was an honour to have the chap around, and we miss him dearly.
Farewell, Black Cat.
maggit and Lorraine
SmokinV8 said:
sometimes animals do wunder off when they know time is nigh, have you been out looking for him?
Yes we have, he used to have quite a big area that he used to patrol, when he first started to stay with us it wasn't unusual for him to be gone for three days or more, but after he was neutered he wandered less and less.I'm sure he's underneath one of his favourite bushes, somewhere.
That's ashame 
, it always the not knowing that can be more upsetting but in Black Cats case it does seem likely that he'll have taken himself off, fits in with the character you have described him having. He had a good last few years with you and he wouldn't have lived this long had you not taken him in.
I hope you do find him, even if it does turn out that he has passed on to that bridge.
, it always the not knowing that can be more upsetting but in Black Cats case it does seem likely that he'll have taken himself off, fits in with the character you have described him having. He had a good last few years with you and he wouldn't have lived this long had you not taken him in.I hope you do find him, even if it does turn out that he has passed on to that bridge.
Slight thread hi-jack, but I lost my furry best friend Harley on Friday too, he wasn't very well and both he, my wife and I realised that it was his time, whilst he was purring when we fussed him, he didn't look to be enjoying himself much, so we took the decision to put him to sleep. He had recently been diagnosed with diabetes and we didn't have a problem with treating that, but he had a stay in a cattery whilst we were on honeymoon and returned having had to visit the vets for a time on a fluid drip, a respiratory infection and problems with his kidneys and losing 1/3 of his bodyweight. He did improve towards the end of last week, but then the following day was bad again.
I'm glad he didn't go off and disappear (mainly because we were keeping him in) as the not-knowing would have really hurt, but I'm still feeling the pain of losing him
I'm glad he didn't go off and disappear (mainly because we were keeping him in) as the not-knowing would have really hurt, but I'm still feeling the pain of losing him
bexVN said:
Steve so sorry for your loss. I know you were worried about his chances of recovery on the cattery thread. I'm glad you were able to be with him at the end.
Thanks Bex, the pain is starting to ease and I'm focusing less on his final few days and more on the good memories I have of him. Still weird coming home and he's not there. I want to get another cat (or cats) sooner rather than later, as there's a hole there in my life now, Jess isn't so sure at the moment, I think I'll broach the subject with her in a few weeks time.
Jasandjules said:
At least you know you gave him a happy time whilst he permitted you to look after him.
Oh, believe me he loved it here. We can't face going into the local Chinese take-away because he liked their chicken so much; it'd be hard to try to eat it, so strong are the memories.Gassing Station | All Creatures Great & Small | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff