Post #66,994
12/5/02 8:44:50 PM
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Waiting
Got a dying cat.
16 years old.
White.
Fluffy maine coon.
We've already bought the replacement kitten.
Does not seem in pain, so we are not taking
to the vet to be killed.
Waiting....
So the cat has been lying next to the food and litter
in the laundry room. The kids are playing in the
room next to it. My wife comes to me.
Her: Get rid of the dead cat, quietly.
Me: eewwwee. Are you sure it's dead?
Her: YES! I almost stepped on it, it's
gross, get RID of it!!!!
Me: OK.
I sneak in with 2 garbage bags. I tap the cat. Yup,
pretty stiff.
I start to wrap it in a bag. And it screams at me.
Visions of Monty Python: NOT DEAD YET!!
I leave it alone.
Waiting...
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Post #66,997
12/5/02 8:46:43 PM
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Sorry to hear this :-(
"Career politicians are inherently untrustworthy; if it spends its life buzzing around the outhouse, it\ufffds probably a fly."
- [link|http://www.nationalinterest.org/issues/58/Mead.html|Walter Mead]
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Post #67,000
12/5/02 8:49:33 PM
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Ah, don't worry
Some animals I get attached to, others I
merely put up with. This one I put up
with.
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Post #67,001
12/5/02 8:50:34 PM
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you're just the undertaker on this one?(still hard)
will work for cash and other incentives [link|http://home.tampabay.rr.com/boxley/resume/Resume.html|skill set]
Opera was the television of the nineteenth century:loud, vulgar and garish with plots that could only be called infantile. "Pendergast"
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Post #67,006
12/5/02 9:32:43 PM
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Well, I thought it was funny
We all know cats wander off when they're ready to die.
-drl
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Post #66,999
12/5/02 8:49:00 PM
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Always sad.
Imric's Tips for Living- Paranoia Is a Survival Trait
- Pessimists are never disappointed - but sometimes, if they are very lucky, they can be pleasantly surprised...
- Even though everyone is out to get you, it doesn't matter unless you let them win.
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Post #67,002
12/5/02 8:51:38 PM
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Sorry, it's one of those difficult acts for pet owner.
Alex
"Let others praise ancient times; I am glad I was born in these."\t-- Ovid (43 B.C.-A.D. 18)
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Post #67,059
12/6/02 6:50:36 AM
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Done waiting
I must have triggered some type of reflex
as I bagged her. It seemed like she tried
to kick me.
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Post #67,105
12/6/02 10:48:26 AM
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As a cat owner...
I feel sorry for you loss. As somebody who watched his cat die over an extended period (cat had renal failiure, stopped eating, my mother force-fed him to keep him alive) it's never a pleasant thing.
Sixteen years is a long time, though.
"...the middle of fighting a war against religious extremism is not the time to do something offensive to God." - Some idiot.
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Post #67,110
12/6/02 10:53:36 AM
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Oldest cat I ever had...
19 years old. She and a slightly younger cat (18 years) both died near the same time due to an incursion of fleas.
Very sad -- she had been my cat since I was a little boy. :-(
Regards,
-scott anderson
"Welcome to Rivendell, Mr. Anderson..."
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Post #67,114
12/6/02 11:00:37 AM
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Similar story here.
Cutey and Climber were brothers that we adopted when I was 3-4 years old. Climber (who was technically my brother's cat) came down with feline leukemia when I was around 10 years old - very sad, we thought we were going to put him to sleep. My brother begged to let him have one more weekend with Climber, and when we went back the next week, the leukemia had gone into remission. Never came back, and Climber lived to the ripe old age of 18. He was always skinny, never ate much, but always was very active right into his old age. He just didn't seem to age at all.
I went to Japan one summer, came back, and on the day I got back, we found Climber in the back yard with a shattered hip. He was still alive, but there was nothing they could do for him - they put him to sleep.
Cutey, on the other hand, ate, ate, and ate - and slept all the time. Around 15-16 years old, his fur started to fall out, and he developed a problem with continual scratching of his back, leaving really nasty scabs there. He lived up until the same time that Climber died, then shortly afterwards had the renal failiure. My mother gave him IV fluids and force fed him a diet of chicken and broccoli. He lived for another year and a half before she had him put to sleep near christmas.
Those two cats taught me more about kindness and caring than any other person in my formative years.
"...the middle of fighting a war against religious extremism is not the time to do something offensive to God." - Some idiot.
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Post #67,120
12/6/02 11:06:41 AM
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New Cat Advice
..not that you need it, but when did that ever stop me? :)
When a cat is a young kitten, for some reason it helps "humanize" the cat to scruff-tote it like its Mom would do. The cat has an instinctive "freeze" reflex when grabbed by the scruff. This also works perfectly when they act up. Also hand-fighting (my favorite cat fun) - flip it over and roughly scratch the belly until it really digs into your hand and mock-bites - the cat knows how much is too much. For some reason this results in saner, less nervous adults.
-drl
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Post #67,129
12/6/02 11:14:42 AM
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Freeze reflex...
... is also useful for putting the cat where it doesn't want to go. :-)
Keep in mind, however, that eventually the effect somewhat wears off. I found this out to my bloody dismay whilst toting a recalcitrant cat downstairs in that manner...
Regards,
-scott anderson
"Welcome to Rivendell, Mr. Anderson..."
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Post #67,191
12/6/02 7:20:58 PM
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I've lost two cats
Both of cancer, within three months of each other.
It's a tough period.
Tom Sinclair
"Everybody is someone else's weirdo."
- E. Dijkstra
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Post #67,231
12/6/02 10:21:17 PM
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I had a cat die from liver-failure.
Not real pleasant, but we knew the end was coming.
I love cats as pets. The one I have at the moment (who is really my mother's) just likes being near me. It's really funny.
Wade.
"Ah. One of the difficult questions."
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Post #67,234
12/6/02 10:29:39 PM
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Cats are just odd
My friend Sarah had a cat that was truly brain-damaged (don't laugh). It would hide in the closet for days. Once in a blue moon it would just appear, act normally for a few minutes, then get extremely paranoid and go back into the always open closet. You'd go over there and there would be Cooters, not hiding but just snuggled into the dark corner, green eyes staring out into space, contentedly.
-drl
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Post #67,130
12/6/02 11:15:26 AM
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I'm too emotional this morning
There's no such thing as a "replacement kitty" or a "replacement dog". My parents never got over losing Misty (our supposedly pure-bred poodle).
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Post #67,225
12/6/02 10:10:40 PM
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Re: I'm too emotional this morning
Of course there is. I had a cat for 14 yrs. Can't wait to get the next one.
-drl
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Post #67,317
12/7/02 5:48:02 PM
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Do not read if easily offended
I am not the burying type. While I've
cried my eyes out when I held a cat
as they were putting it asleep, after that,
it's just meat.
So, I was planning on throwing the cat
out in the garbage. Except mine is
full. All of them. Missed 2 pickups,
Thanksgiving and a snow day.
So when my ride came to pick me up, I
was carrying the cat in a double Hefty.
I figured I could toss it in the dumpster
at work.
The driver told me I should put it in
the box they are using to collect for
the "Toys for Tots". I'm not that
bad.
I walked into an office of someone who
used to be my boss in a previous job.
Now I do occasional coding for him.
I held the bag over his desk, and said:
The opportunities for practical jokes
is endless.
George looked at me as if I was crazy. Huh?
I repeated:
The opportunities for practical jokes
is endless.
He reached out and squeezed the bag underneath,
and said:
What, your laundry?
Me: Nope. Dead cat.
I walked out. Took it to the back, and placed
it in a dumpster.
I came back and told my boss the story so far,
including what I said to George.
He got a panicked look in his eyes.
I said, yes, I DID consider leaving the cat in
one of his filing cabinets. He started flailing
around the room, pulling drawers out, yelling
to George asking what I did with the cat.
Geez. I must seem a lot sicker than I really
am. I only considered it. I consider a lot
of stuff that I'd never actually do.
On the other hand, I did creep up on him
and go 'Meow' several times during the day.
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Post #67,321
12/7/02 5:53:43 PM
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I'm gonna laugh for a long time...
...about this one...
*meow*
hee hee!
Good one broom!
You were born...and so you're free...so Happy Birthday! Laurie Anderson
[link|mailto:bepatient@aol.com|BePatient]
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Post #67,323
12/7/02 5:59:47 PM
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Re: Do not read if easily offended
Whatcha got there pard?
Schroedinger's cat. The answer is in.
PS: The nastiest trick you can play on an enemy - duct-tape a whole chicken (if you can't find a dead cat) to the underside of someone's desk.
-drl
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Post #67,330
12/7/02 7:48:56 PM
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Just for the smell (after a while), or do you mean...
...the carcass should be taped in such a position under the desk that it implies something about what the owner of the desk was using it for?
Christian R. Conrad
Mechanisation
As our souls are slowly stolen
The wheels of progress keep steamrolling
Mechanisation melts our minds
To drive the furnace that drives us blind. -- [link|http://www.vergenet.net/~conrad/poetry/mechanisation.html|© Conrad Parker, 1993]
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Post #67,458
12/9/02 9:06:18 AM
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Nah, better way
Former co-worker had a book of dirty tricks. One of my favorite: Remove all the outlet covers and dump about a cup of sugar into the wall. (The more you get behind the drywall the better.) Within about a week or so, depending on how many floors they are above ground level, they will have an incurable cockroach infestation.
===
Microsoft offers them the one thing most business people will pay any price for - the ability to say "we had no choice - everyone's doing it that way." -- [link|http://z.iwethey.org/forums/render/content/show?contentid=38978|Andrew Grygus]
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Post #68,022
12/11/02 12:05:25 AM
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Yuck.
Had a 19-year old cat. Cat was still with my parents long after my sister and I had moved out. Happened to be visiting, cat was sick but cats get sick, right? We saw her crawling under the stairs, where she never went. Poor thing was so dehydrated, she couldn't move right, her back was having such spasms that she was bent in half.
We went to the vet, and the options were either re-hydrate her, which would buy maybe 2 days because the vet figured her kidneys had shut down--whether that was causal or caused, she was pretty sure. So, there exists cat dialysis, but not in the universe I live in. Option2 was rehydrate her, so she'd be comfortable, then put her to sleep.
It hurt a lot, but it was so obvoious that at least we didn't have to second-guess.
Meaningless co-incidence: this was about 3 days before I left Illinois to go to California.
True that cats hide to die. It might be worth your while to consider euthanising before the cat pines for the fjords in an inopportune location, especially since you have kids.
FAQ! We're scrod!
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