RIP Danny Cat

Growing up I did not have any pets. Well, maybe the occasional fish or tadpole. I’m talking about the four-legged pets, like a cat or dog.

When I got married my husband and I adopted a Silky terrier, and we named her Holly. A few months later we adopted a Lhasa mix and called her Coco. A few months after that a mama cat by the name of Athena came to our house. She was already pregnant and we took her in. We let her have her litter and then we found all her babies a new home. We kept one of them and named him Daniel. Martin called him Daniel because he looked like the lion from Mr. Rogers neighborhood.

Well, 17 years later Daniel has finally moved on to Kitty heaven. The past two or three days he’s been very lethargic. He hasn’t been eating and that really worried me. Today, after coming back from shopping with Karen, he was hiding. He came out of the hiding spot walking very slowly, wheezing, and I saw traces of blood on his paw. It was almost like he was living just to say farewell to me.

I knew that it was not a good sign, and called the emergency vet. My gut feeling knew that it was time for Daniel to be put to sleep. The vet ran test and concluded that it was kidney failure. His little body just finally shut down. His quality of life was no longer good. The humane thing to do was to euthanize him.

Before euthanizing him, I called Martin. He was there when we had to put down Holly and Coco and I felt it was right to call him. It was awkward seeing him, but it was the right thing to do.

Martin was there when the doctor put down Daniel. I saved a little bit of Daniel’s fur, as I also have clippings of Holly and Coco’s hair. It’s all I have left of my little Daniel.

17 years is a long time to have a pet. They are truly like family, and provide unconditional love. I will miss him and his playful demeanor. But he is in a better place, not suffering like he was for two days.

I love you Daniel Cat. I hope you’ll see Coco in pet heaven. You were the perfect little cat.