Saturday, October 20, 2007

Goodnight, my lovely Willoughby




















Our beloved 19 year old female cat, Willie, died this morning at about 11:40. She was a dear friend for a very long time, and she will be sorely missed. We were fortunate to have her for as long as we did. She started going downhill sharply a few days ago, and lost interest in eating, and became very weak. We had an appointment to take her to the vet on Monday, but she had a bad night and through the efforts of my Mother-in-Law we found a wonderful place that took us today. Despite my attempts to keep her hydrated, she was indeed dehydrated and had lost a lot of weight. Her body temperature was very low as well. The doctor told us that it was pretty much hopeless, and that it was a metabolic issue (kidneys, liver, etc), very common to older cats that live to this very old age. Her body was shutting down, and she was pretty much oblivious to everything.

She was put to sleep peacefully while Betsy and I were by her side, loving her and kissing her little head as she slipped away.

No more pain now, my little angel. You will never, ever be forgotten.

Goodbye darling Willie.

7 comments:

Dave said...

I'm sorry buddy that's a hard thing to go thourgh.

Chris said...

Thanks brother. That means a lot.

sunshine said...

you were blessed to have her as long as you did... amazing. she is at peace now, and i'm sure she enriched your life (just as you enriched hers), so stress not...

marcia

Chris said...

Thanks Marcia.

Christine Boles said...

Our old family cat (at my parents' house) died last week, too, in the same way, and I found it hard to explain to others how I felt so very glad that she'd been with us for so long!
I'm glad you wrote here that you felt this, with your beautiful cat, too.~

sunshine said...

yes, chris, and christine, your love grows deeper when you have a beloved pet longer, i know firsthand. living a full life and dying of old age is the best you can hope for, no matter how many limbs we use for mobility.

having outlived many of my pets, it's the death of ones who's lives are tragically cut short that's more difficult; though death of any kind is ever easy or ever really goes away.

my heart understands and feels both your losses.

Chris said...

Thanks for the love Christine and Marcia.