Day 9th- Warmth....Remembering Gracie

Day 9: Warmth! Remember that quote from Charlie Brown where it says something like "happiness is a warm puppy," well I love that quote. Though in this case I am applying it to pets in general.

In July my very special cat, Grace Kelly (Gracie) passed away rather suddenly. She'd been ill for a few months, but I kept thinking surely she'd get better. I waited way too long to take her to the vet and when I finally did take her in May, I figured a round of medication and she'll be fine. Unfortunately she wasn't fine and nothing we tried worked. Basically she had an issue with her bladder. We could've done exploratory surgery to the tune of a lot of money, but even then our vet didn't feel that'd explain the bloody urine she'd suffered from for quite awhile. We tried diet change, supplements and more....nothing worked.
I called the vet on Thursday, July 9th as was planned to discuss what to do if things still weren't improving after another diet change. We talked, went over the options again and finally he just said that it was time to put her down. She was 8 years old, so middle aged for a cat, and miserable at this point.  The next day I bundled her up in the kitty crate and took her in to be put down.

[I want to pause and say I love the veterinary practice we use for the pets. They are excellent. They asked if we wanted a second opinion and I declined...after all she'd seen 2 other vets in the practice so I felt we'd gotten varying opinions.]

When I got there, they were very nice and quickly brought me into a room to hang out with Gracie and not have to sit in the waiting area. I really appreciated this. She walked around and I petted her, took lots of pictures and basically told her how much I'd miss her. I affectionately called Gracie, "my baby cat" because I got her as an 8 week old kitten from a rescue. She was so tiny and I protected her like a Mom might at first.

The vet came in, explained the procedure and he got started. It was fast as I remembered from seeing childhood pets be put down. Still this felt way too fast. He listened with the stethoscope and told me she was gone and I felt panic...like how is she gone already?? At 3:20pm PST my sweet kitty was gone....I'd only been there 20 minutes. I stayed with her for awhile, they took her paw prints, I trimmed some fur of hers to keep etc. Finally I left and went home. Home without my cat. I still feel like I abandoned her leaving her there. Like I should've taken her with me.  

Back to warmth...for me happiness is a warm kitty cat.  Gracie was a snuggler with me. She'd come under the covers of the bed when Avery wasn't around and snuggle in.

Now we are in a different house and recently I started swearing I saw Grace in the house. Obviously we still have our male cat, Blackie so it could be him I am seeing....but I sense it's Gracie and that she is here with me in spirit.