Today marks 1 year since we had to put our cat down.
We first got Cobalt on St Patrick’s day of 2007, he was probably born in November of 2006. Black fur American shorthair, he was a gentle and affectionate cat, he loved going outside to watch the birds and explore the neighborhood, he would always lay down on the kitchen table in front of me and rest his head in the crook of my left arm while I would rub his belly. If you were crying he would walk up to you and put his paw on your face. he would sleep with us always rubbing his face into your chin, nuzzling your neck. We sometimes took him camping with us which he loved, riding in the the truck camper sitting on the bed in the cabover looking out the front window watching the road pass by, then having a whole new world to explore when we got to the campground.
Stop Reading here to avoid sadness!
In June of 2017 we noticed he was eating less food than he usually did by the mid of July he was eating so little we had to take him to the vet. The vet diagnosed the lack of food intake caused a fatty liver making him not want to eat and that we were to try feeding him anything (dry, wet, treats, or people food) to get him to eat, but no amount of coaxing could get him to eat enough calories. So in mid July the vet put a feeding tube in Cobalt we would have to feed him mushed up wet cat food every 2 hours with a syringe long enough to gain some weight back (he went from 18lbs to 9lbs) and get his liver healthy so he’ll want to eat again. The big downside to this tube, aside from Cobalt needing 24 hour care, was that because of the incision for the feeding tube Cobalt was at risk of infection so he couldn’t be allowed outside incase the tube hole became infected. We fed him like this for a month he gained back some weight (12lbs) but because his stomach was always full he wouldn’t eat anything on his own,and alot of the time he would throw up the food because his stomach shrank. He wanted to go out so bad, to lay in the dirt to watch the birds, he would run for the door any time it was opened.
We had to to go to Lethbridge to move my brother for school, the first 2 days Mom, Dad, and my brother went to find an apartment while I stayed behind. Then letter in the week Dad, my brother and I brought all his stuff to the apartment planning to come home the same day, so Mom stayed home with Cobalt to care for him. While in Lethbridge eating supper after unpacking Mom calls and say Cobalt won’t hold any food down, won’t go to the bathroom at all, and crawled behind the furnace. We knew then he’d given up on life. dad and I drove back to the city and the next day we took Cobalt to the vet to put him down. The vet said that the drugs usually take 15mins to work, Cobalt didn’t even put up a fight with the needle and was gone in less than 2mins.
It was hard on the whole family but especially my brother because Cobalt was his cat and he was now in Lethbridge by himself.
We don’t have plans to get another pet .
If you’ve read this far, Thank you, I just wanted to share this now because I didn’t get to when he was alive because I only started posting recently.