When Morgan disappeared, I had no kitties left in my house, so I found some advertised free at a farm outside town. I went out to look and was horrified, and so glad that I was going to rescue one of these unfortunate animals. Sherlock was very interested, and very busy investigating me and snuggled up to my neck when I picked her up. That was it for me. Home we went. She was another gray tabby, and I can't find any pictures of her, probably because she didn't last very long.
I thought she was much younger than she was, because I soon found out that she was pregnant. She had a single kitten, Abbie. Abbie was also a neck snuggler, from a very young age. I was grooming her to be my brother Brian's cat. One day, when I got home from work, Abbie was struggling to breathe. She spent that night in an incubator at the vets, and tests showed she was FIV positive, as was her momma. Abbie passed very quickly. Sherlock hung on for awhile, not eating, but couldn't be saved.
This experience was one of my growing up stages of pet care. From this point on, no cat would join the family without first being tested. It didn't keep me from getting a FIV positive cat in the future, but it started me on my journey of more responsible pet care.
5 comments:
::hugs:: I love neck snugglers. It's been awhile since I've had one. It's so hard when you lose a cat. Doubly hard when you lose one this way, especially two. But you are such a wonderful person to have rescued Sherlock (and unwittingly Abbie!) and then to go on to rescue more. May the memories of love always outweigh the grief of loss.
purrs & prayers
The Teenage Kitty Mutant Ninja Kitty Horde & their Feeders
we came over to read about your brick story. we are glad that Sherlock and Abbie knew your love before they left too soon. It is never easy, but the love they bring us is priceless.
Even love for a short time is better than not at all. We are so glad the kitties were with you when their time came.
We came over from Chrystal's blog.
A beautiful story of something we all dread. We lost two young cats (15 and 18 months) to FeLV. They were both pedigree cats from a supposedly reputable breeder... The way I look at it, at least they go all the love they could take before they had to go.
Aw, those poor things. Still, as we always tell Chrystal, they were loved and cared for until the end, even though it came far too soon. Thank you for the brick and the story.
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