Sometimes you just have to suck it up and become the angel of death/mercy.

[iscooterliberally]

RIP Lemmy the cat. Lemmy hailed from the Florida East Coast Railroad tracks in North Miami Beach. I noticed him hanging out in the parking lot of the warehouse where I work, so I put some food out for him. He ended up coming into the office on a hot summer day so I let him hang out in the a/c and brought the food in for him. Every Monday morning we have a company video conference call and one day Lemmy decided he wanted in my lap in the middle of it. The owner of my company saw this go down and offered to pay for his first vet visit. I have other cats at home so I was concerned that a street cat might have something that could spread to the other ones. Lemmy checked out OK, but he did have some health issues. The vet said he was probably about 10 or 11 years old and his teeth were in bad shape. He also had the feline version of herpes, which was permanent. I brought him home that night and he got along OK with the other crew. They were a little put off by the fact that Lemmy was hogging my lap, but they dealt with it. Lemmy came to their aid when a couple of bully tom cats showed up at our house. One of these cats has cost us hundreds in vet bills from picking fights with our other cats. Ole Lemmy just walked right at them and they hissed and spit and ran off as fast they could. They didn't know what to make of Lemmy. Lemmy started coughing a couple of weeks ago. At first it sounded like he was just going to cough up a hair ball and I didn't make much of it. It started to sound more like a respiratory issue and there were no hairballs to be dealt with. It had been a year since his last vet visit so I scheduled an appointment for him. The vet didn't like what she heard so she did x-rays. Parts of his lungs were inflamed and he had asthma too. The vet gave him a steroid shot and sent me home with some pills to give him after the shot wore off. He was fine for a couple of days, but then my son called me while I was at work. He said that Lemmy was crying and it didn't look like he could move his back legs at all. I had to rush home and get him to an emergency vet. The prognosis was not good. He had most likely thrown a blood clot that cut off the blood and nerves to his back legs. They offered me an option to try and save him, but it would land him in the hospital and cost us thousands of dollars. Lemmy was suffering. He had been a free spirit his entire life. I had to stop his suffering and send him over. I'll miss our morning routine where I try to put my shoes on to go to work, only to have my lap hi-jacked by a black cat. I'll miss him following my wife into the kitchen where he would read off the list of his favorite foods. I'm pretty sure that list had everything from aardvark to zebra in it. Lemmy loved people food and would sit up on his back legs and beg just like a dog would. He leaves a large black cat shaped hole in our hearts. Lemmy is survived by Miss Bitsy Bones, Celina Bean, Jethro Slayer of Lizards and Monty the Python Tail.

[XanaDUer2]

1. Miami cats are the best

My condolences

[tblue37]

2. I'm sorry you lost your sweet house panther. It's never easy. One of my cats had a

catastrophic stroke a year ago so I had to let her go. It's so hard to make that decision, but it would be cruel not to help them over.

[AZSkiffyGeek]

4. One of our dogs had a stroke a couple years ago

He lost his sight and hearing, and could barely walk. We took him in figuring this was time. We were told to give it a week - that dogs usually recovered. He did, and we had another year with him.

[iscooterliberally]

5. That was pretty much it. I think he had a stroke.

I definitely had to help him over. I'm so thankful for the folks at the emergency vet's office. It was expensive, but the got pain meds into him really quickly. They wanted to give me more time saying goodbye too, but he was suffering. It was about him and not me. I knew I could go home and pour a stiff drink. I'm still glad to have had him. He was only with us for about a year and a half, but once he was gone, it seemed like he had always been with us.

[AZSkiffyGeek]

3. One of the hardest things is knowing when it's time

Our pets can't tell us - and it's human nature to want to help them and keep them with us. We've had to put three of ours to sleep in the past 3 years - all were still full of love for us, but they were clearly in pain. In each case I wonder if we waited too long and if they suffered needlessly because we were holding out that they would improve.
At the same time, I have a friend whose pup has canine encephalopathy (or something like that) - the pup is blind, can barely walk or stand, and won't likely live very long. My friends are doing everything they can to make sure its last days are as comfortable as possible, but they are clear-eyed that the little guy isn't going to be around very long - they just want him to know love during his last days.

[Hoyt]

6. Lemmy looks cool. You did the right thing. Take care.

[Arkansas Granny]

7. It's a sad decision to make, but you did the kindest thing for the old boy.

You gave him the best life he could have with the time you had with him. RIP, Lemmy.

[The Blue Flower]

8. It's so hard to let them go

But I've always felt strongly that we owe them a good death if it's in our power. You did right by Lemmy.

[Bayard]

9. He looks like a sweetheart

I'm so sorry. But glad you gave him a good life for awhile.

[brer cat]

10. It is so very hard to do,

but you know it was a kindness and compassionate to let him go gently and not suffer.

[niyad]

11. Lady Bast, please take Your little Lemmy gently home in Your loving arms, and send peace

and comfort to his grieving loved ones.

I am so very sorry for your loss. You gave him a good last part of his life.