My Cat

Earlier today, I put my cat, Waffles, to sleep. It was the hardest thing that I've ever had to do. We took him to the vet's with every intention of putting him down, but I still wasn't ready. I won't go into all the detail about his condition, because it's just downright pathetic. I will say, though, that the doctor told us that there was little hope for him, but, if we wanted and could afford to, we might still try to do something for him. I was completely out of money. So, I had to make the decision. I chose to let go of him.

I had my cat for 14 years. He was a great cat. He was full of personality. I got him from a place called "Animal Friends" in early March of 1991. He was born in February of that year. I went around, looking at all the kittens, and I chose him. Not only was he cute, he was the only one with an apparent "desire" to leave the place. As I walked by, he sat on his haunches and shoved his little paws and arms through the cage door and reached out, like he was trying to grab me. He was so cute, that I couldn't resist. At that time, when he curled himself into a ball to sleep, you could lay him across your open hands. In just a couple years, he grew to be a monstrous cat, weighing 16 pounds. My cousins called him the "amazon" because he was so tall, strong, and ferocious.

He had a nasty little personality that I just found endearing. When new people would come to the house, they would say, "Aw, what a pretty kitty!" It was then that he usually bit them. He liked me most of all, and was very loving with me. He also loved my dad. He didn't start liking my mom or my sister until about a year ago. Anyhow, even though he was a bad cat, I still have many fond memories of him. I was the only person he would sleep with, and he would sleep on my chest every night. Sometimes, he would get up in the middle of the night and go walk across the keyboard of the piano, which drove us nuts.

My cat was also very sweet and cute. When I was in college at WVU, I got many phone calls from my parents saying that Waffles would sit on my bed just crying through the night because I wasn't there to hold him at night. He also had a little doll that he just loved. It was an Arnold "Governator" doll that was filled with catnip. He used to fall asleep with it in his little arms. He loved to sleep in boxes, and he wasn't happy if there wasn't a cardboard box somewhere in our kitchen for him to hang out in. He was great. I will miss him so much. He was so beautiful. Everywhere we would go, people would comment on what a big, beautiful cat he was. He was perfect.

Today, at the vet's, he weighed eight pounds. He was listless, lifeless, and miserable. He couldn't hold his head up, and he could barely cry anymore. I held him like a baby in the car on the way to the pet hospital. He didn't make a sound or try to move. He just laid there letting me hold him. He was so miserable that I couldn't make him go on any longer. I would have force fed him for 14 more years, if it would've kept him alive and happy, but he wasn't happy anymore. So, at 4PM today, I held him in my arms as he went to sleep for the last time. After he was gone, his head lay on my arms, and he truly looked peaceful one last time. He didn't look dead, or uncomfortable. He looked like he was just resting in my arms, like he had done so many times before. I will miss him so, so much. He was my kitty, my friend, my baby.