This past week has been really tough to see Butterscotch going down hill. I had secretly hoped that some how he would pull through yet another trauma in his life but I guess his "9 lives" were used up. This morning I got up early to go and check on him. He had not moved since last night and I found him lying by the side of the litter pan. He had urinated on the floor and I knew it was because he was too weak to get into the pan. His little belly had become enormous with the collection of fluid inside his abdomen. I noticed on Saturday that he had stopped eating and yesterday he would only take a few sips of water. Dad and I decided it was time to let him go. We took him to the vet this morning and had him euthanized. We brought him home and buried him next to Jasper and Leper.
I was surprised when Dad said a prayer as we stood by the side of his grave. Fred came along. I had noticed that he had been looking for Butterscotch in all the places that he use to go. I called him to the hole where we had placed Butterscotch and opened up the bag so that he could see him.
He leaned over the side of the hole and tried to remove the bag. Dad didn't think that cats understood the loss of another cat but I know they do. I have seen cats literally cry over the loss of a friend or family member of theirs. After Fred had said his good- bye I tied up the plastic bag again and Dad filled in the hole. We will all miss Butterscotch. He was a fantastic hunter and taught Fred to hunt last year. Butterscotch pretty much retired from hunting this year and for the first time in his life became a " lap cat". He would rotate between Brian's and my lap throughout the evening and would always try to run and hide when he knew it was bedtime. The key is when the sports would come on during the 10PM news broadcast. A number of years ago I wrote a story about how Butterscotch became a big game hunter. I will have to see if I kept a copy of it or if I just posted it on "blog-it.com".
If I have a copy of that I will post it. You will fall in love with him too.
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We're sorry, Mom. We know that Butterscotch was a part of the family. Hugs to you!
ReplyDeleteThanks Kiley. As time goes by the pain gets less and I know that we had his best interest in mind when we put him down. It would have been much harder to put him down if he would have been healthy and we would have had to do so because we couldn't take him with us if we move. It all works out for the best. I had had a conversation with Heavenly Father about having to try to uproot him from the only life that he knew. It doesn't work well to move an older cat from their home. It is very stressful on them and they usually end up running back to their old home. Heaven only knows where we may be in the next two or three months. I just couldn't put Butterscotch through all of that stress.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the hugs!