Well this is the 2nd time a cat the i have trapped and taken to the vet has been put down. It's a very very strange feeling.
The 1st cat tested + for FIV. Luckily it did not pass on to the queen he was with or to the kittens...
The 2nd cat... was just a few days ago. I spotted a male at the feeding station and my husband pointed out that he looked terrible. I had not my glasses on and from a distance he looked fine. However on closer inspection the cat was bloody on one side of his face and the bottom of his jaw looked like it had been cut very badly. Anyway, i managed to trap him the next night... and get him to the vet the next day. The vet called the day after that and told me that it would take 8 individual operations to fix him up... and that... there was a bone infection on the jaw and that if he was someones cat... and tame he would have tried but... since he was no ones cat and not tame... after care would be impossible...
I am still very conflicted about the whole thing. On the one hand i feel a sense of relief that since the situation was so dire... i don't have to deal with it anymore. But on the other hand i feel terrible that i wasn't able to do more. And whats worse is that he spent his last few hours in a cage... scared and alone. Things like this really make you ask some big questions... about fate, destiny, meaning.... life... death....
I'm not looking for sympathy or a pat on the back or anything ... i guess what i'd really like is to just be able to get some closure but... that's not possible now and maybe this post is about as close as i will get to having some sort of mental closure.... It's a tough situation when you are the one who sent the cat off to meet his maker... i can't begin to imagine how lousy vets must feel when they have to make the ultimate decision. Maybe they are the real heroes in situations like this... or maybe there are no heroes... Who knows...
Anyway, at least his journey is over.
The 1st cat tested + for FIV. Luckily it did not pass on to the queen he was with or to the kittens...
The 2nd cat... was just a few days ago. I spotted a male at the feeding station and my husband pointed out that he looked terrible. I had not my glasses on and from a distance he looked fine. However on closer inspection the cat was bloody on one side of his face and the bottom of his jaw looked like it had been cut very badly. Anyway, i managed to trap him the next night... and get him to the vet the next day. The vet called the day after that and told me that it would take 8 individual operations to fix him up... and that... there was a bone infection on the jaw and that if he was someones cat... and tame he would have tried but... since he was no ones cat and not tame... after care would be impossible...
I am still very conflicted about the whole thing. On the one hand i feel a sense of relief that since the situation was so dire... i don't have to deal with it anymore. But on the other hand i feel terrible that i wasn't able to do more. And whats worse is that he spent his last few hours in a cage... scared and alone. Things like this really make you ask some big questions... about fate, destiny, meaning.... life... death....
I'm not looking for sympathy or a pat on the back or anything ... i guess what i'd really like is to just be able to get some closure but... that's not possible now and maybe this post is about as close as i will get to having some sort of mental closure.... It's a tough situation when you are the one who sent the cat off to meet his maker... i can't begin to imagine how lousy vets must feel when they have to make the ultimate decision. Maybe they are the real heroes in situations like this... or maybe there are no heroes... Who knows...
Anyway, at least his journey is over.