PUTTING MY BELOVED CAT TO SLEEP

Yesterday was an emotional day for Hubby and I. We had to put our dear Scooby to sleep... Yes... our 9 year-old local breed four-legged first son.

Nine years ago, Hubby (my boyfriend back then) and I collected a about-week-old kitten under the stairs of his apartment. We nursed and fed him. Involuntarily and with no unconscious effort, the bond took root. Since he was afraid of every little thing and sound he heard in the house, we decided to call him Scooby. The name suited him well. Although it took him a while to adjust to the love and tender loving care that we gave him, he became very attached to us and replied to our calls only . When Iqie arrived, Scooby was intimidated at first, but after a while he was OK... getting out of Iqie's way most of the time. But Iqie liked to chase after him a lot.

A few weeks ago, he went out and missing. We thought that he was kidnapped by someone. We went looking for him around our condo, calling his name in the hope that we would hear his voice calling back to us. To our relieve, he came back home after two days of futile search. He was bruised and the cuts that he had were pretty bad. So Hubby and I nursed him again with antiseptic and gamat. He became aloof since then, licking the medicine off his cuts.

When the cuts didn't heal at all after a few weeks, we sort of knew something was not right. So, yesterday Hubby and I took a half day leave and took him to the vet. The bad news came from the vet, Scooby was infected with a disease (I forgot the name of it as the news was too shocking for me to even digest!). Ergo, the vet advised us to put him to sleep, for the sake of the baby that is coming and the whole family. He said the disease could infect us human and the consequences would be bad. We could be hospitalised. He even wanted us to disinfect the whole house. And we did all those.

We were given time to discuss. At first, it didn't hit us. When we simply had to face our pet's mortality, it's like somebody had turned on the waterworks. I'm ashamed to admit here that I actually cried shamelessly in front of the vet, his assistant and two other customers who came in with their dog. I told the vet that I wanted to sit in when "it" happened. But again, he told me not to (what a wise advice.. or else I wouldn't be able to sleep for a week!). He said it would be too painful (not to Scooby) to me.

It took only a few seconds, and Scooby was gone! Lying motionless on the examination table...

I just can't describe how Hubby and I felt. But what I can say is that Hubby was all red eyes, a significant sign to show that he shared my sadness...

ieja