Friday, April 07, 2006

Bye Gypsy

We had to say goodbye to one of our dear cats last night.

Gypsy had been sick since last week with pneumonia and went downhill rapidly 2 days ago. I took her to the vets Thursday morning and after some xrays and a blood test we found out that our dear girl had a low white blood cell count and was in the end stage of FIV (feline AIDS).

The vet said that it was unlikely that she would recover, so the decision was made to end her suffering. What else could we do, she was 13 years old.

Gypsy chose to live with us as she was the neighbours cat originally and just kept spending more and more time at our house. When the neighbours moved she was officially ours.

She was Gypsy by name and Gypsy by nature. You would often see her asleep in the rain, she would howl to go outside if she was in for any length of time.
I recall just a few months ago how she would go from Mr X's room to my room howling constantly until someone got the sh*ts and would let her out. In the end she couldn't meow at all just a squeak would come out.
She was an excellent mouser and would often bring home *treats* for us.

Once when Mr X left the shed door open she managed to climb up and tip a great big bucket of waste oil over herself and everything surrounding it. I have fond memories now of bathing (repeatedly) an adult cat who hates water! Oh the scratches we received. It took ages and many washes to get the oil out of her fur. That's something we'll laugh about.

We quite often referred to her as the 'Barbie' of the cat world as she was a bit slow and would forget that she's just been let outside and would turn around to come in again.

The hardest part was telling Miss 9 what was going to happen. We went to say goodbye to Gypsy and then we left while the vet did what she had to. I feel that I left her, let her down by not being there right to the end for her.
But she was on pain meds and was a bit out of it. Perhaps she didn't know. Oh, I don't do death very well. We had a nice cuddle before though and said our goodbyes. When we bought her home afterwards she looked so peaceful.
She is now next to Tiger and Smoochy and our rabbit ( who passed on last month )

Rest now dear Gypsy, seeya at the Rainbow Bridge!


3 comments:

Vanessa Vain said...

I'm sorry about your cat. It's always sad to have to put down an animal. It sounds like you have some sweet memories of her though.

sillyewe said...

Oh, Leeanne! I am SO sorry to hear about Gypsy! It is such a hard thing to do, but just know that you made the right decision. You can't feel bad about it. You had so many good years with her and I am certain that you were a great caretaker. Keep strong! I miss talking to you. We have to catch up soon. :0)

Yarnsticksbooks said...

I'm so sorry about Gypsy. Don't feel bad, she isn't in pain anymore.
She was a clever cat to choose an owner who obviously cared about her :)