Saying Goodbye...

Valentine's Day, 2005. Steve came home with a little gift for me. He was wearing his jacket and told me to look inside the sleeve cuff. I peered in and saw two little glowing eyes staring back at me. He had brought me an adorable little Persian kitten. What a sweet little thing he was! We put him on our bed and the kids asked, "Is he real?" Nathan said, "He's so cute I can't hardly stand it!" And he was. Just a little ball of fluff. When he walked his fur dusted the floor, so I named him Dusty.

He was always so gentle. He would look at me and slowly close his eyes and meow, although usually no sound came out. Which made it even cuter. We all loved him. He put up with a lot of cuddling and being held. He always played with soft paws, even as a kitten. He never used his claws.

This past summer was rough for all of us. Steve left for Utah while we stayed behind. The cats ended up outside. Dusty disappeared for a few days and when he came back he was in the garage breathing heavily. Never before had he growled, but he growled when we tried to pet him. We took him to the vet and he was treated for pneumonia. We couldn't spend the money on xrays. He got better. But his breathing continued to seem labored.

When we moved Dusty was the only one of the four cats that we brought with us. He had a special place in our hearts. Steve and I took him to the vet on Friday, Jan. 22nd. Dusty had stopped using the litter box and we were still concerned about his breathing.

The vet took him for xrays and when she showed them to us it was astounding. His diaphragm has been torn and all of his intestines were in his chest cavity. The only things in his abdomen were his kidneys and his colon. It is amazing that he lived that way as long as he did. Within minutes we had given them permission to operate, but not to take dire measures to save him if he didn't have enough tissue to build a new diaphragm. I asked to see him one more time before they took him in to surgery. How do you say goodbye when you don't know if it's the last time you will see him or not? I petted his head and laid my face on his. I told him to be good and took a long look into his eyes.

Steve and I went to lunch while we waited. It was only about 30 minutes later that we got the call. Dusty had gone into cardiac arrest while they were preparing for surgery and they couldn't revive him.

Goodbye Dusty. We miss you when we turn the corner and you aren't there. We miss seeing you curled up in the corner or on the bed. You were beautiful and sweet. We hope you have an eternal ball of yarn to keep you busy and happy.