This morning, I had to make the decision to have our 12 year old cat, Goober, put down. It was not an easy decision, and I left the vet's clinic in tears. Never thought a 57 year old man would do that over a cat. But I have been told several times today that a pet is still part of the family. And in the 12 years that Goober was around, he was pretty special.
First point of I'd like to make is that Goober was not named after George Lindsay's character from the Andy Griffith Show. I named him Goober because his mother's name is Peanut, named so by my daughter, Sylva, after she ate a peanut M&M. My reasoning was that another name for a peanut was a goober pea, hence the name.
Peanut came to us as a stray, and I was talked into keeping her because my family loves animals. Before we could get her spayed, she brought a litter into the world. We were able to find homes for all except one. goober happened to be the smallest one of the litter, but soon grew to be a good sized cat. And he had a special way of greeting you, sticking the top of his head in your face. And, like most pets, he soon got the run of the house. In the summertime, Kathy would be sitting outside reading. goober would decide when it was time for her to stop. Most of the time, he would not leave her side.
As long time readers of this blog are aware, I have sleep apnea and need to use a CPAP when I sleep. When Goober decided it was feeding time in the middle of the night, he would come in and turn of the CPAP, then nudge the mask off my face. He would get fed then allow me to go back to sleep.
For the past week, or so, Goober hadn't been feeling well. He wasn't eating, and was having problems breathing. When I got him into the vet's this morning, he was crying. The vet said that he was in bad shape and the choice was mine. Kathy and I decided that the humane thing to do was to have him euthanized. As I was leaving, I went to the desk to settle my bill. My eyes were red. I commented to the assistant at the desk that I wouldn't want her job at a time like this. she said that there are times that her job can suck.
I guess that had Goober not been as special as he was, I wouldn't feel as bad as I did. But like family members that have gone on, I can look back at the good memories we have of this special cat.
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He was smart, too. Just like your Goober who knew how to turn off the machine, Hamlet learned to press the button on the bottled water cooler in the garage to get a drink of water. Drove my ex husband CRAZY. If I were sitting and reading or at the computer, he would come up behind and sit on whatever spot he could find and tap me lightly on the shoulder to remind me he was there. I lost my Hamlet when I left my ex husband. He ran off and never came back. I will never forget him.
I agree, they are definitely family members and meant to be kept in the most honorable of places in our memories.
Comforts to all of you who are feeling this terrible loss.