Here is Frankie eleven years ago today, on March 7, 2014. This was on top of the china cabinet, which was a popular place for both Chris and Puck, although Puck needed my help to get up there. Since Frankie had only been in our house for about a month at the time, I’m sure he learned how to get up there from Chris.
Can you tell Frankie loves being outside?
Our association comprises six houses arranged in an L shape around a common vacant lot. Between each house and on each end is a six to eight-foot decorative wall. Frankie had jumped onto these walls about three times and attempted to jump a couple more times before I stopped him.
Here he is on the wall at the opposite end from our house. I think he has declared the entire area his.
Has anyone with cats ever packed for a trip and not seen this?
My wife went on a business trip this week and put her suitcase on the table to pack. Knowing Frankie would lay on top of it she covered it with a towel.
I just put the laundry on the bed to fold yesterday but Floki beat me to it.
Frankie is more sophisticated and prefers his laundry on a hanger.
During our walk yesterday, it started raining, so we came home, but Frankie was not ready to go inside yet. Instead, we hung out under the carport.
Often, when Rose and I sat down to watch television, Chris would get on the sofa and lie next to me. Usually, he would be half on and half off my lap. After a while, he would decide I had enough attention, and it was Mama’s turn. he would walk over to her and lie down at her side. I found this photo from the first of August that shows this. On this day, Frankie happened to be there first, but that was more of an exception than the rule.
Rose returned from her cruise on Thursday. That evening she was saddened to know Chris would not be joining her on the sofa.
After Chris died, I worried that we would never again see our cats cuddle together. While they aren’t yet cuddling, they are touching each other. It’s progress.
When the vet came in to tell me what was wrong with Chris on Saturday, I called my wife so she could hear it, too. She was in Tampa preparing for a cruise with her managers. The vet said they had removed some of the fluid from around Chris’s lungs and had him on oxygen. She said there are two main causes for that condition: cancer and heart disease. She mentioned a number of tests that could be done to determine which is the cause.
“So, you would do the tests, and we will take Chris home and wait for the results?”
“Oh, no. Chris needs critical care. he would have to stay here and be admitted.”
“So, what would his prognoses be then?”
“If it’s cancer, there’s not much we can do. If it’s heart disease, medication might extend his life three to six months.”
That is about how the conversation went, although I may not have the words exactly right. My wife thought he suffered enough. She thought going through all of this treatment for little or no benefit would be something Chris would despise. I had to agree with her considering on top of his current problem, he also had kidney disease, a perpetual ear infection, and arthritis. So, we made the decision to let him go.
After a little while, they took me to another room. This room had a bench seat big enough for two people next to a window. I sat on the end near the door. A women took my credit card information, and I paid the over one-thousand-dollar bill.
She left and came back with Chris wrapped in a towel. She put him on my lap, and I petted him for a little while. I saw part of his fur was shaved and he had a tube sticking out of him from somewhere. He then got up and walked to the other side of the bench and looked out the window.
At that moment, I thought he looked normal. He didn’t look like a cat in need of critical care. My first thought was to tell them I changed my mind and get the hell out of there with him. I then considered the possibility that the vet might know more than me. What if I brought him home and he had another episode where he had trouble breathing? What if he were to die while not being able to get enough oxygen and lying in his own urine like that morning?
I made the hard choice. I picked up Chris, put him back on my lap, and pushed the call button.
Monday night, I couldn’t fall asleep. I kept going over that moment in my head. I convinced myself I made the wrong choice. I thought the vet probably over exaggerated his condition like a weather forecaster before a hurricane. I thought I should have brought him home and let God decide his fate. I’m not qualified.
Are these feelings normal? The last time I was involved with euthanasia was with Abbey about twelve years ago. Then my wife was with me which made it easier but still, I felt grief, but I didn’t feel like we were doing the wrong thing. What do you think?
I want to end this post on a positive note so here is one of my most recent photos of Chris.
As most of you know, we lost Chris Saturday afternoon. We knew his time with us was limited but we still hoped for at least another year. I at least thought he would see his fifteenth Gotch Day in November.
I am grateful to the many people who reached out and offered prayers when they learned Chris was not doing well, and condolences after he passed. As most of you know, losing a beloved pet is very difficult but knowing there are people who really care about you softens the blow.
I would like to thank Ann from Zoolatry for first creating this graphic when she learned Chris wasn’t doing well.
A few hours later she made this beautiful memorial for Chris.
I thought this would be a good time to take a stroll down memory lane, starting with the first two known photos of Chris taken October 3, 2009, when I talked my wife into coming into the shelter where I volunteered to meet Chris.
We didn’t adopt him then. We had a cruise coming up in October and then Rose had to go to a managers meeting. In the meantime, Chris was adopted by someone else. He annoyed his first adoptive parents so much that they returned him the next day. The fact that a five to six-month-old kitten could not get adopted was unusual and lucky for us as well as Chris, because I don’t know many people who could have put up with him in those early years.
Here is a video of him when we brought him home. We didn’t do what we should have done and introduce him to our cats slowly. Instead, we let him loose and he immediately took over. As you can see, Chris was not a shy cat.
I believe this is the first photo I have of him in our new home.
Three hours later he cozied up to Rose on the sofa.
He quickly became friendly with our other cats. Our black cat, Flash, is not in this picture, nor do I have a photo of him with Chris. It’s too bad because he died the following April.
Chris would often insert himself where he wasn’t invited.
While he could be highly annoying to both cats and people, he was also funny and entertaining.
He could also be very cute.
What stood out the most about Chris was his affectionate nature. He was always a very touchy-feely cat. He was the only cat I ever knew that liked to be hugged.
Of course, there were plenty of things he did to earn the name Bad Cat Chris.
Chris was with us for almost fifteen years. There is way too much to remember in one post. I will post part two soon.
Bad Cat Chris 