Requiem For An Oscar

I came home from work on Friday excited for the weekend. I grabbed a snack and called for the cats to come get their supper. I poured the food and Cole came running like normal, but I didn't see Oscar, which was extremely unusual. I looked around and found him in the back closet in the corner. He looked at me a gave me an awful growl, so I apologized and left him alone. A couple of hours later Vanessa came home and it occurred to me that Oscar still had not made an appearance. This is a cat that lets you know when to feed him and he will not let up until you do. I told Vanessa to go check on him to see if he was still in the closet. She came running back into the run saying something about his legs not working. Apparently, when Vanessa came home, the cat tried to come see her. The poor thing looked so pitiful. His back legs wouldn't work and he was just pulling himself around and he was vomiting. We got the phone book out and started looking for vets. We haven't taken him to one since we've been here and we didn't know who to call. It was late so we needed an emergency room open all night. I called one and they put me on hold. Can you believe that? It's an emergency line, no I can't hold. After a few minutes Vanessa said that there was a clinic down the street so we put Oscar in his carrier and headed out the door. We called the vet from the car and they were ready when we got there. They took Oscar in the back and it wasn't more than five minutes before the doctor was ready to talk to us. He explained that Oscar had developed a blood clot and was not receiving any blood to his lower extremities and it was putting a lot of strain on his heart. He said he could try to work on him, but that euthanasia was probably the best solution considering the pain and the fact that any thing the doctor could do unfortunately wouldn't be much. So we decided to ease his pain. It was a really hard decision. It was just so sudden. I figured he just ate some plastic or something. I'm sure most of you know just how attached my wife is to her cats. As hard as it was for me, it doesn't compare to what she was going through. The vet let her hold Oscar as he injected the drugs and prepared her for what his reactions would be. As the drugs took their effect and Oscar ceased to be, the body appeared to be gasping for air. The vet assured us that Oscar was gone and it was just the reaction to the drugs. I think it was really great for Vanessa to experience that and have some closure. She had only been back in town for a few days when it happened and I'm glad she was able to be there.

Vanessa and I always joked about how spiteful Oscar was. Whenever she would go out of town, he would make sure to go number two on her bath mat. It was inevitable. So we both found it amusing how after Vanessa had handed the body back to the vet, the bladder released on the doctor. Typical spiteful Oscar. We were home in less than an hour and the next couple of days were pretty rough around here. Cole is doing well. He sniffed the empty carrier for a while and I think he knows something is different, but he's just a cat and I don't really know how much he can comprehend. I know some of you might think it silly to be so upset, and honestly, I do too. But I've never really had a pet before and I had unknowingly grown quite close to my cats. Things are getting back to normal now but it's still weird having only the one cat. I keep expecting to see his tail sticking out from under the night stand. Vanessa fed him his wet food around 8 0r 9 every night and on this past Friday, he died at 8.30. This cat lived for his wet food. Vanessa commented that Heaven better be stocked up because he's going to be ready for his treat when he gets there.

Anyway, this has gone on long enough. I wanted to tell everyone when it happened, but I'm glad I let things settle. This was a hard post to write (as crazy as that sounds). Vanessa is doing much better and maybe in a few months we'll be ready to get Cole a new friend.