RIP Princess Buttlerfly Golden Rose (a cat) (named by my 5 YO)

[tater]

Princess was a feral cat who found us a little over 10 years ago.

She lived outside (we have a dog door, and she didn't like dogs, anyway).

 

One late night (after midnight) about 9 years ago, I heard a weird cat noise, and yelled out the screen door. Then I heard another, lower cat noise, and went around, turned the lights on, then went out to chase off another cat. I thought there were feathers all around Princess (that she was eating a bird), only to realize that it was her own fur. I knew what I was also seeing, but had my wife come to confirm it was indeed a pile of bowel. Hers. Wrapped her up in a towel, and took her to be put down.

Wife was not interested in talking to vet intern, so waited on vet surgeon to come in, then gave Princess a chance---wash off bowel, stick it in, close. If she lives, she gets to live. So far, so good. Cat lives. Kitty ICU, kitty step-down... kitty doesn't stand. They recheck films. Spinal injury they missed. The owl (wounds were consistent with that) punctured her spine, apparently.

A few weeks ago (Xmas):

 

9 years later, she started having complications of being paraplegic (she had to be expressed twice daily for the whole time (to pee)) that resulted in incontinence. There's just no way for a cat to have any quality of life locked up in a cage (so poop is not spread everywhere), smelling terrible much of the time (cats are fastidious), getting daily baths (she hated them).

Today the cat had to be put down, in my daughter's arms. Sad day, she was a good kitty, even dragging her <3kg butt around the house, front-wheel drive. She will be missed.

[Spaceception]

I'm so sorry to hear about that, she really did sound like a good kitty. Losing pets is terrible.

[tater]

Yeah, and I'm not even a cat person. When she was outside, she'd hear my car and come running like a dog to greet me. She lived in our carport the first year (I made her a heated cat house, that was actually inside my workshop room, so she had an inside (if unheated) area on cold nights). Since the attack she's been exclusively inside (the dog door has a lip tall enough she could not get out through it dragging her rear legs).

Heck, before Thanksgiving, when she was still doing OK, I left the front door open moving a couple new chairs into the house, and she even made a break for it, and went outside. I found her by the car, she pined to be outside, even though that would certainly be fatal.

I should add that after she was injured, we got our labradoodle, and got her as a little puppy specifically so that she'd start smaller than the tiny cat. She would "meow" at the dog, and the dog would sit (after a few baps on the nose as a puppy---the cat taught the dog to sit, not us, lol).

[LordFerret]

Your kitty was a Maine Coon.  Mine died of old age back in 2014, I got her as a captured feral kitten.

[tater]

14 minutes ago, LordFerret said:

Your kitty was a Maine Coon.  Mine died of old age back in 2014, I got her as a captured feral kitten.

We always thought she must be at least part Maine Coon, but she was so tiny we doubted it. Her max (healthy, pre-owl) weight was maybe 7 pounds.

[Dafni]

Sorry to hear this

[TheSaint]

Sorry for your loss. It's amazing how attached we get to pets.

I'm convinced that our Dumb Cat will wind up getting eaten by some wild animal, but apparently she wouldn't have it any other way. We can't even keep a collar on her, she removes them every time we put one on. Cats will be cats. SMH

Edited January 16, 2019 by TheSaint

[tater]

The hardest part was how sad my daughter was, that just killed me.

[Dafni]

56 minutes ago, tater said:

The hardest part was how sad my daughter was, that just killed me.

I can relate. Sole reason I always vote against a pet (but never prevented me from bonding to them like to a human)

All said and done it is a valuable lesson about the momentariness of life - a painful one, one that sticks. Cherish all life around you, every day.

I feel for you and your daughter. Your kids look very lovely and cute in that first picture. Thanks for sharing.

Edited January 16, 2019 by Dafni

[Green Baron]

You have my sympathy for using a small "family member".

[LordFerret]

If your kids are still as young as in that picture, then a new kitten is in order... wait a few weeks first.  Make it a surprise.

[tater]

2 hours ago, LordFerret said:

If your kids are still as young as in that picture, then a new kitten is in order... wait a few weeks first.  Make it a surprise.

That was 10 years ago, lol.

[sh1pman]

RIP, hope she’s happy now, wherever cats go. Surviving the injury like that... Must’ve been a really tough cat.

I had a fish tank full of fish as a kid, long time ago. I wouldn’t now, but I got really attached to them, like naming every single one of them, making up stories with them, etc. They were doing great for a couple of years. Then one day we went on a vacation for 3 weeks, nobody left at home. At some point during that period the food dispencer malfunctioned and stopped working. When we came back, half of the fish were dead. The other half got some kind of disease (presumably because of decomposing fish in the water) and died within 2 weeks. To me it was like losing half of my friends and watching the other half slowly die. I haven’t had any pets since then, never wanted to.

Maybe I’ll have a dog in the future. 

[Nuke]

poor kitty. i had one die of old age a few years ago. i got another one thats getting up there. hes going to be 16 in a couple months. plus we got 2 others, a fat 5ish year old tux and a 9 month old kitten. one day the chubby one came in with something on her stomach. they were working on our decks at the time and i thought she might have snagged her stomach on a nail and spilled some guts. upon closer inspection it turned out to be a large banana slug that had got stuck in her fur. a little water got it off and it was still alive so i chucked it back into the yard (the slug, not the cat). kitten got her spay op last month, so she was out of it for a few days. shis back to normal now but her fur hasnt grown back from where they shaved her belly.

Edited January 18, 2019 by Nuke