krdahmer
November 25th, 2004, 01:26 AM
I will apologize for the length of this, but I really just need to express my grief and tell the story of this loving and brave little fellow.
Well I'm not sure if I've even mentioned the story of my Eldorado yet or not, but he passed away peacefully in his sleep on Tuesday this week, at 9 yrs. old.
It all started back when I was starting University and my boyfriend of 3.5 yrs and I went and got a kitten at a pet store. We got him healthy and loved him up, took him in my car to visit my folks and stuff. I was still living at home at the time, so he lived with the boyfriend. We didn't have the greatest relationship, I was young and dumb... a common affliction... and it got worse between the two of us, where I actually had to call the cops for help once. So finally I got some balls and left him, good for me, not so good for little El. At first I visited often and we tried a sort of 'joint' custody as it was not possible for me to take him. He was well taken care of, but me seeing the ex always went bad so over time I stopped visiting as often.
Then I met my husband and got wrapped up in my own life... until I got a call from my mom saying that the ex had called and needed to get rid of the cat, something about a new g/f. But by the time I called him (mom procrastinated in telling me cause she loathed this guy), he said it was too late and he had taken him to the Humane Society. The next day I called there and they had not had a cat dropped off by the ex...so called him back and he tells me he left him there after hours in the dog house with a blanket and some food. :eek: So I called the HS back again to see if they could see him or catch him... they are not there at night so never caught glimpse of him. All the while I am panicking, sobbing etc. at the thought of this lovely little creature all alone out there in the woods in the freezing cold (it was Dec.22, just after my Oct. wedding). On the 23rd I still hadn't heard from the HS, so later that night hubby heard me sobbing in bed again (about 2am). He got up and stormed out...I thought angry because I was keeping him up...until I got a call about 45min later. He had got up, got dressed, and taken a flashlight and was calling from the HS property where he had been looking for El.(now that to me is a real man! and to this day he could not have done anything grander to show his love for me)
He asked me to describe El and said he thought he saw him, but El would not come near him. Since we now knew he was only coming out at night we went back on Christmas Eve together with food and waited. Sure enough he came out when I called to him... but was not brave enough to come right up to us... so I walked behind him and Chase caught him. Once we had him wrapped in a blanket, he just snuggled up and got warm. We rushed him right to the emerg clinic, where we found out he was covered in fleas and frozen urine and not to mention seriously dehydrated. He spent the next day in the hospital getting fluids and a bath/ flea treatment, then came home with us. He was just as affectionate as ever and even remembered me a bit. I was unable to keep him though because we were in a very small apartment and already had our 2 girls then, so we called Chase's parents and asked if anyone there could take him ( if I had of known then what I know now I would have kept him- but then I knew nothing about introducing adult cats or dealing with traumatized ones). A wonderful lady who had recently lost her GSD, said she would love to take him in... and she is a close friend of Chase's family so we knew he was getting a good home. In a small town where he got full run of the house. When we went to visit I would go see him and always got updates on how he was doing.
And that is where he has lived happily since Christmas of 2002... the lady who took him in found him curled up on the couch, he had passed in his sleep, peacefully. I feel blessed that at least his last couple years were as happy as his first, as the ones in between I don't think were what I had hoped for him.
And I have even written a letter to the ex (a civil one even) to let him know what happened... even though for the most part he is :evil: , I know he did love El once.
I just hope now that El :angel: is in a great place, where no one will throw him away or let him suffer.
Well I'm not sure if I've even mentioned the story of my Eldorado yet or not, but he passed away peacefully in his sleep on Tuesday this week, at 9 yrs. old.
It all started back when I was starting University and my boyfriend of 3.5 yrs and I went and got a kitten at a pet store. We got him healthy and loved him up, took him in my car to visit my folks and stuff. I was still living at home at the time, so he lived with the boyfriend. We didn't have the greatest relationship, I was young and dumb... a common affliction... and it got worse between the two of us, where I actually had to call the cops for help once. So finally I got some balls and left him, good for me, not so good for little El. At first I visited often and we tried a sort of 'joint' custody as it was not possible for me to take him. He was well taken care of, but me seeing the ex always went bad so over time I stopped visiting as often.
Then I met my husband and got wrapped up in my own life... until I got a call from my mom saying that the ex had called and needed to get rid of the cat, something about a new g/f. But by the time I called him (mom procrastinated in telling me cause she loathed this guy), he said it was too late and he had taken him to the Humane Society. The next day I called there and they had not had a cat dropped off by the ex...so called him back and he tells me he left him there after hours in the dog house with a blanket and some food. :eek: So I called the HS back again to see if they could see him or catch him... they are not there at night so never caught glimpse of him. All the while I am panicking, sobbing etc. at the thought of this lovely little creature all alone out there in the woods in the freezing cold (it was Dec.22, just after my Oct. wedding). On the 23rd I still hadn't heard from the HS, so later that night hubby heard me sobbing in bed again (about 2am). He got up and stormed out...I thought angry because I was keeping him up...until I got a call about 45min later. He had got up, got dressed, and taken a flashlight and was calling from the HS property where he had been looking for El.(now that to me is a real man! and to this day he could not have done anything grander to show his love for me)
He asked me to describe El and said he thought he saw him, but El would not come near him. Since we now knew he was only coming out at night we went back on Christmas Eve together with food and waited. Sure enough he came out when I called to him... but was not brave enough to come right up to us... so I walked behind him and Chase caught him. Once we had him wrapped in a blanket, he just snuggled up and got warm. We rushed him right to the emerg clinic, where we found out he was covered in fleas and frozen urine and not to mention seriously dehydrated. He spent the next day in the hospital getting fluids and a bath/ flea treatment, then came home with us. He was just as affectionate as ever and even remembered me a bit. I was unable to keep him though because we were in a very small apartment and already had our 2 girls then, so we called Chase's parents and asked if anyone there could take him ( if I had of known then what I know now I would have kept him- but then I knew nothing about introducing adult cats or dealing with traumatized ones). A wonderful lady who had recently lost her GSD, said she would love to take him in... and she is a close friend of Chase's family so we knew he was getting a good home. In a small town where he got full run of the house. When we went to visit I would go see him and always got updates on how he was doing.
And that is where he has lived happily since Christmas of 2002... the lady who took him in found him curled up on the couch, he had passed in his sleep, peacefully. I feel blessed that at least his last couple years were as happy as his first, as the ones in between I don't think were what I had hoped for him.
And I have even written a letter to the ex (a civil one even) to let him know what happened... even though for the most part he is :evil: , I know he did love El once.
I just hope now that El :angel: is in a great place, where no one will throw him away or let him suffer.