masque12 | Kitties

Kitties

I've been looking at kittens available on Craigslist, just for the hell of it. I'm in no way ready to replace the Beast yet (he is irreplaceable), but there's a hell of a lot of really cute kittens on there. I want them all. If you are looking for a pet, however, I recommend checking craigslist out, and giving some of them a home. I think the Beast would appreciate it.

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Just FYI: there are 4 little black kittens living on our property. Their mama had them here and they are scared of people, but I am trying to tame them. Mama is a problem; she hates people. But R and I are thinking of trapping them so they can have a good life. I wasn't going to mention it, but since you've been looking at kittens...

Also, I think a good way to think of the beast is this: he cannot be replaced; he can only be succeeded.

I definitely appreciate that sentiment. We need some time before we adopt a new cat, or cats. I'm thinking I could go for two, preferably a brother and sister, so they could keep each other company when we are away at work, but Cat wants to wait a minimum of 6 months before we readopt, and she only wants one. I don't know if I will want to wait that long, but we'll see what happens.
I hope the 4 you mentioned do well, but it's just too soon for me to consider it. I've had pets die before, as a kid and with my old cat Mittens who stayed with my parents when I moved out, but the Beast is the first one where I had to personally deal with it, and it will take me some time to be ready to give a new fuzzy beast the attention SHe will deserve.

Oh, I totally understand. When my cat Tiger died, a friend of mine immediately called me up and started trying to push a new cat on me. Not only was I totally not ready then, I actually wasn't cat-ready again for 7 years.

We waited 6 months after Princess died, to even start looking.

(hugs) to you and Cat. I know this is hard.

Cat actually has wanted a hairless cat for a while, but I vetoed that. They just look funky to me. I really want an orange marmalade, but she doesn't like them for some reason. There was a really cute Kitler at the Humane Society when I took the Beast there, but as I said, too soon, especially that day.

Just on the off chance that you're not familiar with the term Kitler:
http://www.catsthatlooklikehitler.com/cgi-bin/seigmiaow.pl

Why the Humane Society?

I took him to the Humane Society because the SPCA needed to schedule an appointment ahead of time. He was getting worse physically every day, and as much as I didn't want to, I felt that I had to do it as soon as possible to end his suffering, and to a lesser extent, once I made the decision, the sooner I did it, the sooner I could get on with the grieving process. We had actually scheduled him for an SPCA appointment a few weeks ago, and cancelled it when he started to show some signs of improvement, but when he took a turn for the worse, I couldn't handle the waiting anymore. Somewhat selfish on my part, but I've been stressing about him for the last few months, grasping at straws, and I needed closure.

As an addendum to the other reply, whether I took him to the Humane Society or SPCA, it was pretty much a fait accompli that euthanasia was his fate, he was too old and too sick for adoption. He was a nine year old cat, his lower teeth, except for his fangs, were gone, and his eyes were starting to go, they had a film on them.

We'd also tried 3 different kinds of insulin, and he wasn't responsive to any of them. There was also an element of having spent several thousand, cumulatively, on his medical care in the past year, and we couldn't afford that anymore, not with him failing to show improvement for all of our efforts.

I wasn't questioning your decision to euthanize him- if he was suffering and couldn't be helped, then I think that's the best choice. I am sure you did everything you could to help him to recover- if it wasn't working, it just wasn't. I was just confused as to why you took him to the Humane Society if he had a vet already whom he had been seeing.

But your second comment actually gives me another question- did you take him to like a clinic at the Humane Society, to be euthanized, or did you surrender him to them?

Oh I didn't think you were questioning me, but at the time I wrote the post you were replying to, I was still pretty hardcore broken up about the Beast, and I may have sounded more defensive than I meant to.

I took him to the Humane Society specifically to be euthanized. We had found out a short time before that his vet had basically been price gouging us on insulin. We went from one vet charging us $60 or so (per small bottle) for insulin that didn't work, to another vet charging us $130 (per small bottle) for insulin, to my old vet I took Mittens to up in the Woodlands who told us we could get insulin for $30 (per small bottle) at Walgreens. Unfortunately, none of those worked.

The one we considered the price gouger is http://catvetclinic.com/ on West Alabama. I do not recommend them.

And I'm sorry if I came across as insensitive- I wouldn't have mentioned it otherwise.

No, no, I didn't take any offense whatsoever. I know some people that get a new cat right away after one dies, and it makes them feel better. If the Beast had been older, and died of natural causes, say, peacefully in his sleep, I might feel that way, myself. The biggest hurdle for me is that I had to take him to be euthanized, and even though I know intellectually that he was really sick, and that it was the more merciful thing to do, I have this idea that I killed him that I need to get past, as wrong headed and illogical as I know it is. Hence why I need some time. I appreciate the suggestion. Right now I'm still at the stage where I close the door really quick when I get home, so that he doesn't get out, or I expect to feel his weight up against me, snuggling in the bed with me. First I need to really internalize that he's gone, and then I need to conquer my guilt. Only then will I be ready for another one. I do know that when I get another one, it won't be a black cat, much as I love them, because that feels kind of like a betrayal of his memory. Hence why I'm thinking orange or black/grey tabby.

I have 5 who will be needing homes in about 5 weeks.

I appreciate the offer, but like I've said in other comments on this post, it will probably be at least 6 months before I get a new cat.

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Kitties

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