Vale Grumpy

Our Grumpy cat – formerly known on the blog as The Little Kitty, before she got so Grumpy – has joined her many friends waiting at Rainbow Bridge this morning.

She very nearly went there 6 years ago when a careless vet punctured her eardrum while trying to clean it, which made her quite ill and the antibiotics and painkillers she were given sent her into renal failure. Much love and syringe feeding for about two months got her back to a healthy place and we gained a lot of extra time. Though the food she needed was more expensive we didn’t mind that.

While we are so sad to lose her today, we are thankful for all those extra moments we got. Six years of extra moments, that is a lot of lap time and cuddles and many many tins of tuna she got to eat. Tuna was her favourite food.

There were some eye issues during those 6 years, in the end she had surgery to fix the folding in of the eye. While not a complete success, it worked well enough that we did not get any further ulcers developing.

In the last year we’ve felt that she began to lose a bit of her hearing and some of her eyesight particularly night eyesight. Happy could sit right next to her on the bed and Grumpy wouldn’t know unless we turned the lights on. She did not always hear us calling her. But these were small things, not very much of a problem for any of us.

Unfortunately the kidney issues – while they went away for most of those 6 years – returned a couple of months ago and while we’ve all been working hard to fight them, there does come a time when the kindest thing is to say no more. For us that time came this week. We’ve been supplementing with syringe feeding for a couple of weeks and she became unable to keep that down anymore, even with anti-nausea medication.

As Grumpy did not enjoy going to the vet, we organised a mobile vet to come out and assist her in crossing the bridge. It was the best thing we could have done for her, far less stressful. She was surrounded by those who loved her in her own home in her favourite cat bed while sitting on her favourite lounge.

Poor Happy cat is wandering the house meowing and looking for her, exactly as she did when Grumpy last went in for an overnight stay at the vets. While Happy was a big fan of Grumpy, those feelings were not mutual. Grumpy tolerated her up to a point then would give her a good paw swat but would never play with her. We will be trying to find a new cat friend for Happy, one who will like to play with her. We will not be rushing into anything though.

I know I always struggle to find words to say at a time like this, when these things happen to fellow bloggers who I follow and whose pets I feel like I know even though I have never met them.

Please don’t feel like you have to find words – a simple *hugs* as a comment to let us know you saw this post and are keeping a good thought for us is more than enough and will be deeply appreciated. :)

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kitties, Vale Pets

17 thoughts on “Vale Grumpy

    • Thanks SilverTiger. At the moment everything reminds me of her. I think it will calm down a little over the next few days but..

      ..right now I can’t even wash my hands at the kitchen sink without thinking of her. She had this habit of wanting to drink out of the sink especially in her last weeks, so we stopped doing that there for a bit and stopped leaving any dishes in there, just a little bowl with water for her.

      I actually thought I would be ok, I thought I had prepared myself well for this. I’m a bit shocked at how upset I am. :/

    • I was remembering back when she wasn’t quite so grumpy yesterday.. there was a time when she was the happiest cat in the household. ;) I wish I’d never asked the vet to clean her ears, I won’t ever do that to another cat.

    • They call this colour a dilute calico, but it comes with a side of “Tortitude” – we’ve had two Torties in a row and they had tortitude to burn. Might be time for a slightly more relaxing colouring. ;) Happy is black and white AKA Tuxedo and such a different temperament.

      We do plan to get a new friend for Happy but at the moment the shelter doesn’t have anything that suits.. it has to be a cat that will get along with her but I also don’t want to bring a cat home unless this will be their forever home so we might end up taking Happy to the shelter for a test drive if they will allow it.

    • Thanks Sue. On the one hand I’m getting a lot of stuff done, throwing myself into other things so I have something to focus on. :)

      On the other hand there is a lot of sadness.

  1. Reading this post illustrates what a wonderful, loving and memory filled life you gave your Grumpy Cat. Your exquisite care for her and the calm end you planned show your devotion to her. Hugs and sympathy as you remember your girl.

    • I’m really glad we could give her the end we wanted for her. I was saying to the other half last night it was actually almost perfect. The vet was very patient with her and gave her plenty of good calming drugs. And we got to spend plenty of time with her afterwards before the pet cremation people arrived to collect her. Happy got to say goodbye as well.

      It was one of the other blogs that gave me the idea to organise an at home thing, I can’t remember which one but I am so grateful for it.

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