Good-Kitty Garth

Last night I made a hard decision that I know was for the best but my heart is still breaking.  For the past several weeks our cat has been vomiting and has been getting slowly worse.  Changing his diet and other interventions didn't help any but the last straw was when I saw him struggling to get up the steps.  My heart sank and I knew what had to be done but it is such a hard call to make.

Garth has been with us since I was 6 months pregnant with Andrew.  He used to sleep on my hip every night and purr.  He only did this when I was pregnant and we actually joked about this when Garth started sleeping on my chest before I found out I was pregnant with Sean.  He knew before we did.

Garth was a stray that used to hang around my parent's house and sleep on my uncle's roof.  Pat did NOT want another cat but he said that if the cat was around when we were ready to leave we could take him back home with us.  I know he was thinking that we would never see that cat again... well almost on cue Garth came out from under a car and started figure eights around Pat's legs.  And he has been with us ever since.

He was such a good cat with a silky black coat and crazy yellow eyes.  He had all of his claws and never once lashed out at my boys with his claws out.  Now that is saying a lot if you know how they toted him around and "loved" him.  If they got to rough he would come over and bite me!  He was gentle and playful and a really wonderful part of our family.

So as I hunt around for more kleenex I can tell you that although it was so very hard to make the final decision to put him to rest I think it would have been so much harder to watch him get any worse.  The boys all got their chance to say good-bye and even Sam and Sean realized the gravity of the situation.  Sam gave him kisses and rubbed his ear and Sean pointed out his eyes and nose and Andrew told him how much he loved him and would never forget him.

So may you rest in peace good-kitty Garth we love you and miss you.  

Garth 

RIP 4/21/10