We took Ruthie to the vet to be put down today. It was not as terribly sad as when we took Ringo last July because Jason and I had made the decision together last night that it was time. I would like to write the same quality eulogy for Ruthie as for Ringo, but I've been saying goodbye to her since we found out she had a necrotic kidney in June 2006. This experience is unlike any I've ever had with a beloved pet. All the ones before have been hit by cars, run away, or like my beloved dog Spot and Ringo, unplanned euthanasia. (Ok, so Philip's cat Boots and Dad's lab Duchess both died in their sleep, but I was five when Boots died and living in Atlanta when Duchess died so they weren't really my experience.)
Ruthie came through her kidney removal surgery five years ago with no problems. (Unless you count her personality change and the sometimes mis-matched pupils as problems.) But this last year has been a very slow decline in her health. In April I took her for a checkup and found out (many hundreds of dollars later) that she had spinalosis, arthritis, hip displaysia, and alzheimers. She started taking pain meds twice a day. This past week she went on a hunger strike. She couldn't hold down her meds anymore. And when she did eat, she couldn't keep that food in her belly, either.
It was time to let her go. To end her pain. To finish the long goodbye. And now that I'm writing about the end of her 12 years on this earth, I'm finally crying for her. She had driven us crazy so many times over the past five years that it's easy to forget she was once so incredibly sweet and cute and adorable that we named her Ruthie after the little girl on "7th Heaven." I will miss that version of my Baby Ruth. The house will be too quiet now. Especially at night when we're trying to sleep.
Goodbye, Ruthie.
1 comment:
Thanks for this and for also doing what needed to be done. She was the most loving cat before kidney removal and post surgery just a tiny bit less loving. She must have lost some of that love with her kidney. I've been second guessing my decision all day and I know we did what was best for her. She wouldn't leave us on her own. I'd like to think she liked us too much and wanted to stick around as long as her pain wasn't too great.
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