Doofer 'Thank You' - Pet forum for dogs cats and humans

x.l.r.8 · #1 November 23rd, 2006, 11:47 PM

i'll keep this short as I am still going to pieces over the loss. it started 17 years ago, I just started Nursing school and always having cats in the house I was pleased my room mate was gotting a kitten for his girlfriend, 2 weeks later it was plain she didn't want the cat as she had to much 'spirit', so instead she got a golden lab puppy. I decided to take over the duties of looking after the kitten and when we moved out 3 months later, Doofer came with me. I treated her like a princess, even when she came home pregnant I couldn't blame her, I was then married (my room-mate said he had everything fixed!!!) and I sternly told my wife we are not keeping any of the kittens, so in accordance to the laws of marriage we only kept 2. Doofer was always mine and it showed, she would follow me to the shops and wait outside, and walk back home with me, if I was working in the garage (I was also a mechanic) she would come into the workshop and go to sleep in what ever I was working on, once I finished she would demand all my attention, and she got it, sometimes she would be in for a long wait but she never moved. If I was sitting down she would run to me and settle on my lap, never once did she go to anyone else. We moved around a bit and when I decided to move to Canada the hardest decission was what to do with the cats, especially Doofer as she was less than friendly to anyone but me. I could give her tablets, wash her in the bath, roll her over and rub her tummy, but anyone else would be nursing a bleeding wound if they tried it. My inlaws came to my rescue, but they were so worried about doofer they felt they should warn us she may be to much for them, it turned out she was an excellent mouser for there country home in Glastonbury, however I always had other plans for her. The day we decided to sell our London house and live in Canada the flights were arranged for them to bring my baby back, she has been the longest constant living in my life and I wans't about to leave her behind. Here she had 25 acres to run around a big house and all the mice she could eat. 2 1/2 years into the move I noticed she started to drool and thought maybe she was getting old (she had NEVER slowed down from boing a kitten) and I also noticed she was a bit stiff in her walk, it didn't bother her so I wasn't going to make any issues of it, but the drooling got worse and one day I almost freaked, it looked like she had fallen into a bucket of dirty engine oil and was covered in dirt. I started to give her a bath and while the water was soaking it turned to dark red. Looking back i think it was at this point the realization that doofer was not going to live forever hit me, so I did what any rational person would do, i panicked. The vet said she could see her the next day. The next morning she was covered in dried blood, it never occured to me where it might have been coming from, this was a cat who had never been ill or poorly in her life. From a bit of tarter on her teeth the vet found an absess under her tounge and from there a tumor. i was not going to go through heroic surgery to make her be in pain so we opted for the steroids to reduce swelling and some painkillers. She was a trouper, we got her into EVO food and she actually started putting on weight, the next trip to the vets was the beginning of the end, a different vet took a big breath and told us plainly "nothing good ever comes of this type of tumor" but when she purring in your arms and you spent the past 2 weeks washing the blood off her everyday and trying to make sure she's feeding you have to continue, but on the way home I told my wife as soon as she starts to strugle we have to do something, we owe her that much. That thursday morning she could no longer get the food into her mouth she had to scrape the food in by her jaw, she couldn't chew anymore and i just watched her and cried. We booked the appointment for Tuesday and by the afternoon I had changed it to Friday morning, she had sores where she tried to groom herself and in just a few days she was a skeleton. Friday was as bad as it comes, she trusted me to put her into her basket unquestionly, she slept all the way to the vets and struggled out of the box into my arms where she just settled, 2 injections and it was over. (my poor puppy is just staring at me wondering why I'm such a mess trying to type this). Doofer now has her place in our garden in an area we pass everyday, NO-ONE can disturb her and I know she's still close. She was everything anyone could want in a pet, loyal and loving without condition. Beautiful and independant, and without question my baby. So Doofer "THANK YOU"

I almost forgot this, unfortunatly I only have 3 photo's of Doofer and only one is digital, this is my baby, I only wish I had taken more pictures of her but I spent that time pampering her. My wife is taking her space on my lap so she made do with my wifes, this meant the 'kitten' got relegated to the arm of the sofa.