I gave him lots of hugs, and we did lots of nose bumps, before I handed him over at the vet clinic. He was very calm, even sitting quietly on the small scale at the front desk without protest, just turning his head to keep in eye-contact with me. The vet is going to call me while he is still anesthetized and she's checked the x-rays to see what we want to do. One of the items on the detailed estimate was morphine so he's going to be in cloud la-la land for a while after surgery.

I didn't put that part in about why adopted Dude so people would think I was being especially nice, but to say how far our relationship had come compared with what I thought it would be. I was prepared to take care of him for however much time he had left but within days I was cursing the fact that I hadn't had him much longer. The raw facts of how I saw him at the shelter were true, and his long-time "girlfriend" had been found dead only a few days before, another reason why I found it unendurable that he end his days in the same way. He's one of those cats that adores attention, leaning into your chest and gazing up into your eyes in rapture while you fuss and talk to him, but he's not at all demanding. He's a gem.