March 31st, 2007

I had a bit of a rough weekend and thought that maybe if I blog it, it would help me feel a little better. My precious Patchy (in the picture to the left, asleep on my bed two weeks ago), had to be put to sleep on Saturday night (3/31). I am still a terrible mess, but I know he is better off and not suffering anymore.

Either Thursday night or early Friday morning it seems as though he was hit by a car. We found him hiding under an old table in the the shed that's falling apart in our yard. He wasn't moving much, obviously in a little pain, but he was reacting and drank some water. There was no way to know the extent of his injuries, and being that I had no job or money to take him to the vet, I made him comfortable in the hopes it was minor and he would heal. Alas, the more time that passed the worse he seemed to get. I didn't think he would make it through the night, but he did. He was moving less, but still lifting his head enough to get some love. It was all I could do at that point... make him as comfortable as I could and make sure he knew I loved him. You know what? I think he knew that.

Long story short... As the evening came near he was in much more pain. He would try to move and cry out, staring at me with his big green eyes. I know he was looking to me for help, but I was helpless. I finally decided we needed to take him to the emergency animal clinic. I didn't think they could help him, but they could at least make the pain go away. He was breaking my heart. When we got there, just by looking at him I could tell the doctor wouldn't be able to do much. She examined him and he cried, trying to get out of her grip. We calmed him down and she told us what she found. He seemed to have a broken hip, a broken leg, his claws were all split and mangled, he had dry blood in his nose, and clumps of hair were falling from his tail which was a sign of internal bleeding. Besides that, his bladder was full because since he could barely move, he wasn't going to the bathroom.

I'm sorry to put all this on here, but I really need to get it all out. Needless to say, our kids were crying (Mike's girls and my son) and wouldn't stop. My son and I have had Patchy since the day he was born and he had just turned 3 on March 5th. We all went outside to discuss our options and with a heavy heart, and through tears of pain, I realized that putting him to sleep was the only option that was best for him. That was only because we couldn't be sure he would recover from all the injuries. It killed me and the kids were more upset, but we all agreed. I called my friend to come get the kids, they all said their goodbyes, and Mike and I stayed for them to take care of Patchy. I was too upset to go back there with him. I know I should have been there so he would have his mommy with him, but I couldn't do it.

You never realize how attached you can become to an animal until you have the perfect pet. Patchy was a WONDERFUL cat and companion. He was such a good boy and loved to be loved He was spoiled and lived like the king of the house. He would go outside when he wanted to and meowed outside the door when he was ready to come back in. He would come running when I called him and knew certain commands in Spanish. I will never find another cat as good or laid back as he was. He was even great with kids, even if they were a little rough, he never hissed or took out his claws. He would just take it then mosey along about his business.

We all painted a cinder block for him to use as a head stone. Each of us painted our own message in a different color paint and that seemed to soothe the transition a little. He will DEFINITELY be terribly missed. As far as the kids are concerned, they made me promise that is we get another cat it is NEVER EVER allowed to go outside and we have to get pet insurance. Bless their little hearts, I couldn't agree with them more.