RIP Tux

Those of you who have been reading my posts for a while know who Tux was. He was one of a litter of 5 stray kittens some people and I trapped at our corporate headquarters back in August of 2001. He's been my constant companion ever since. A little less than 3 years ago he developed diabetes at age 14 and as the insulin doses got stronger and stronger to control it, I didn't think he'd last a year. Well today, almost 3 years later, I finally had to put him to sleep. I think he had a stroke overnight; I don't think he even knew who I was this morning, he was such a mess and having convulsions. So I took him to the 24 hour emergency clinic and put him to sleep.

RIP "Punk"; you were a great friend right to the end.

Man, I am sorry to hear that Toho. A pet is a great companion to have and losing onevis hard. My condolences.

Bro, so sorry to hear this. Glad Tux got to be with you for so long. RIP Tux.

Awww, that sucks. R.I.P. kitteh.

I can relate, we had to have our dog put down the weekend before Halloween. The kids are still in a funk over it, esp. my 10 year old.

Pets really do become "family."

Yes they do. My condolences on your loss too FF. This is the third time I've been down this road and it never gets any easier.

Thanks guys.

RIP, Tux. Pets are better than most people and definitely make better family members.

Sorry to hear man. I know it's hard. They are like family.

That stinks, after we had to do this with our last cat I don't want another as I don't want to go through that again.

It always sucks. This is the third time I've had to do it. And one thing I've learned is that adopting a new cat quickly makes it easier especially when you have to introduce it to another resident cat. That process is time consuming and tedious and keeps you busy. I'm already scoping out another cat that the rescue group my friend at work runs is fostering; it's the same group I adopted Godiva from.

RIP Tux

I haven't had a dog or cat for 15 years but still miss both of them.

Thanks Boris. They do stay in our hearts don't they.

Sad to hear - Tux

Sucks, Toho. Sorry to hear about it. Here is to the mourning going over quickly, and to ushering in the good memories.

Thanks again everyone. I sincerely appreciate your concern and condolences.

Now I'm trying to unfreakout my remaining cat. She's been really weird ever since this happened. I don't think she misses him in the same sense I do but I think she knows something really bad happened that's permanently changed her environment. She keeps returning to the spot where I found him.

Sorry to hear Toho. I was never a cat person until I met my wife 10 years ago. When we had to put down our first family cat, it tore me up like I never expected before. I can't even imagine losing the cats we have now. It would be devastating.

corplhicks wrote:

Sorry to hear Toho. I was never a cat person until I met my wife 10 years ago. When we had to put down our first family cat, it tore me up like I never expected before. I can't even imagine losing the cats we have now. It would be devastating.

My Dad was like that until we got a cat we called "Happy" when I was about 10.  For some reason that cat loved my Dad and now he understands.  My Dad is 87 and very "old school", he doesn't express emotions very often so today when I made my weekly Saturday call to my Mom and told her I had to put Tux to sleep, my Dad insisted on jumping the line to tell me how sorry he was and how much he liked Tux.  That just does not happen very often with my Dad so of course I started bawling.  

BTW, I'll say again that it's definitely easier to handle if you still have a cat at home when this happens. I'm spending a lot of time with Loosie, the remaining cat, because she obviously knows something has gone seriously wrong. That actually helps distract me from dwelling on the loss; I can't imagine just sitting here by myself after this happened.

Thanks for the condolences corpl.

Sorry to hear.

Thanks RF.

Loosie seems almost back to normal today; no more hiding under the bed and no more "jumpiness".

I read somewhere a while ago that most cats remember things for about 3 days unless the event or behavior is repeated multiple times. That seems to jive with how Loosie is behaving. Like most days before Tux's demise, she spent most of today lying on her favorite window sill watching the world go by. But that window also happens to be in the same room Tux chose as his "death room" and today was the first time Loosie would go in there. I think the horrors of Friday are fading for her...

Now I'm waiting for them to fade for me too....

Tomorrow I'm going to look at a cat my friend's group has up for adoption.  A one year old orange and white male cat named Squirrel.  

It feels like fate because my nickname for Loosie (my remaining cat) has been "Squirrel Tail" ever since I got her. Not only is this the same rescue group I adopted Godiva from 13 years ago but he's even at the exact same PetCo store.

Incidentally, Loosie spent all day on her window sill in that room again so I think she's forgotten about last Thursday night.

It's official. I met Squirrel today and he spent most of the time purring in my arms. But he also swatted me across the face (with claws sheathed which is a good thing). I like that combination; he's friendly and calm but also feisty which means Loosie, who is at least twice his size, won't be able to push him around.

The tentative plan is for me to bring him home next Saturday.

RIP! and also welcome to the new cat!

Cool news about the new Kitty, toho. Love the name "Squirrel."

My fam and I may have a line on a new dawg but nothing's carved in stone yet so I don't wanna jinx it.

Fat Freddy wrote:

Cool news about the new Kitty, toho. Love the name "Squirrel."

My fam and I may have a line on a new dawg but nothing's carved in stone yet so I don't wanna jinx it.

Thanks Exact.

And good for you FF!  One thing I've learned after doing this several times is that it's better for me and the rest of my "family" (I.e., the resident cat) to get another one asap.  I assume the same thing applies to dogs and their remaining family.

And I love the name Squirrel too.  He just looks like one.  He's got medium length hair but he still looks something like a miniature Loosie.  I already call Loosie "Squirrel Tail" because of how fluffy she is.  Squirrel isn't quite as fluffy but he still definitely has a  squirrel tail so I'm keeping the name he already has.  It just cracks me up.  I can already hear myself yelling "Squirrel, stop that!!!"

I'll post pics once he's here.