Yesterday was a very sad day in the life of my wife and myself. We have had numerous cats, a dog, gerbals, ducks, etc over the years, but Lucky was someone special to us.
We found Lucky on the street in our neighborhood 12 years ago. He was only 4 weeks old at the time, lying in the middle of the street, injured with a broken leg. We’re not quite sure how he got injured. We took him to our vet who told us that he needed to stay off his legs for at least 4 weeks. At that time we weren't looking for a new pet cat, we already had 2 cats. But Lucky was so gentile and loving that we decided to care for him. He stayed in Debbie and my room. We had built him a “hospital room” out of a cardboard box where he could re-habilitate. When he was healed in slept in our bed every night. He quickly became friends with our 2 older cats, and the favorite of our 2 children, Deb and me.
Lucky was a cat you couldn't help but love. He was always by you, jumping on your lap, purring when you petted him. Some cats are very stand offish, not our Lucky. If you were injured or hurting emotionally, he was there to offer comfort. He had beautiful markings and eyes that would look at you with love and affection. He was like a child to Deb and me.
Over the past 12 years, the 2 cats we had when we found Lucky had died. We found, with the help of our older child, 2 new cats, who entered our lives 7 years ago. Even though Lucky was the king of our house, he quickly allowed the 2 new cats to enter his domain. He was like an older brother to our 2 new girl kitties.
Over the years, Lucky never seemed to grow old. He was even playing with the girl kitties, even over the past few days. He never showed signs of his sickness and had no physical appearances that would indicate how ill he truly had become. Even 3 days ago, he was running through the house with one of the girl kitties, swatting a ball at her and playing.
Two days ago, Lucky, who slept on our bed with Deb and me, went downstairs with me in the morning, He came over, rubbed his head on me, purred as I petted him saying ‘good morning buddy’, as he went to his food dish to nibble and drink some water. As he left his food dish, he began to spit up water and mucus 2 or 3 times, and ran upstairs. Very much out of character, he ran under our bed and laid there in obvious discomfort, chocking and spitting up 2 or 3 more times. We held him for some time, but he was not responding as he usually did by purring and licking your hand. And when I put him down on the floor, he laid there and meowed in a very painful way.
Deb quickly called our vet who told us to bring Lucky out immediately. When we went there, we found out he was de-hydrated and need an IV. We gave the vet permission to do blood work and take x-rays. He told us to leave Lucky and he would call us once the test were completed.
The vet discovered that Lucky had a mild form of diabetes, but due to the de-hydration, one of his kidneys was not functioning. This stunned my wife and I because he was so playful and looked so healthy. Lucky had to stay at the vets to take the IV which also included a steroid and an anti-biotic. I had called the vet back at 6:00 PM that night to see if we could bring Lucky home. He stated that Lucky had stabilized and the best place for him was the vet hospital. Yesterday morning at 8 AM the vet called us to stated that Lucky’s condition had worsen and that he was unable to stand. We authorized more tests, and one of the test uncovered that Lucky had cancerous tumors behind his lungs and also in his liver and pancreas. He was shutting down quickly. We immediately drove to our vet’s hospital, but Lucky had died right before we got there.
This is an amazing situation to me and my wife. We have 2 children and 3 grand children. We had lost Deb’s dad 3 years ago, but our other 3 parents are still living. Losing Lucky was as painful an experience as losing or potentially losing any of our family members. I know it sounds ridiculous, he was only a cat. But for Deb and myself, Lucky was our 3rd child. Like I stated at the beginning of this memorial, we have had a dog, 5 total cats, gerbils, turtles, frogs, 2 ducks, etc., the remaining of which were family but not like a child. Lucky was really a human in a cat’s body.
I appreciate this forum giving me an opportunity to say goodbye to one of my babies
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He sure was an amazing cat and now he's pain free and up at Rainbow Bridge. I don't have any children and my cats are like children to me so I can relate to what you're saying. Ever time I've lost a cat it's hurt me deeply but time does heal some of the pain. You will see Lucky again and he may even come to visit you. My thoughts and prayers are with you during this difficult time. Please take care.
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