I'm feeling blue this afternoon. Just plain sad. I had take Callie, our calico cat, to the vet today and she advised we put her to sleep. We noticed that she had been losing weight and had not been very active the past week or two. Dr. Elly Kelly said she had liver and probably kidney disease as well. She opened her mouth to expose her teeth and showed me that her gums were yellowing which meant she was jaundiced. She was down to eight pounds. Dr. Kelly said there was nothing she could do to make Callie better..no liver or kidney transplants. She said she could give her fluids to "prop her up" so to speak, but that it would only prolong her suffering. Lesh had already given me the go ahead to have her put to sleep if the prognosis wasn't good. I would have insisted that he take her, but today is his birthday and I didn't think it would be very nice for him to have to put her down on his birthday.
It was pretty quick. She was resting on a little metal table and I pet her. She rested her head in my hand. Dr. Kelly came in and gave her a shot to sedate her. She slowly lowered her head. She was very peaceful and only licked her lips really often and then just stopped. I thought she might already be gone after a minute or two because she didn't move at all. Her eyes were still open. Then I noticed she was still breathing. Dr. Kelly then returned and gave her the second shot. Callie was gone within thirty seconds.
I didn't realize how much I would miss her. I couldn't even speak to the cashier for crying. Still can't. I feel like a baby for crying so much...silly for grieving for a cat, but she was ours for over ten years.
We found her, or she found us, in Moss Bluff, Louisiana while visiting with our friends Ken and Lisa. She was tiny and we fed her leftover steak from Copelands. She decided she liked that kind of life and wouldn't leave. When we went inside for the night, she was not happy. In whatever room we were in, she would find the window and begin to scratch on the window and "meow". We couldn't even whisper in bed that night because there was a window by the headboard and she found us and scratched on the window. We drove around the neighborhood the next day to see if anyone knew who she belonged to and no one did. So, we said our goodbyes to our friends, drove to PetsMart, stocked up on supplies and headed for St. Louis. She sat on my lap the entire trip home.
She was a calico in nature. Thought she was better than everyone else. She loved to lick the tuna remnants from a can, and she loved to be held and petted, by Lesh and I. She wasn't very friendly to others. She loved to wrestle, but she wasn't de-clawed, so you could expect to walk away bleeding. I have lots of little scars on my hands from playing with her. She was very loyal and exceptionally beautiful.
She was very much the "uppity" cat, but she loved Lesh and would follow him around the yard like a dog. When he was in the hospital last year, she missed him very much.
I have a beautiful picture of her that I took when she was only one or two. Can't find it. Will post it when I do. These are the last four photos I took of her.
I loved you Callie and I will miss you very much.
