"Victor M. Martinez" wrote in message
...
Four years ago today our beloved Quetzie left us for the Rainbow Bridge.

Oh, Victor, I just got round to reading your original post, and I'm so
sorry. He sounded like a wonderful cat, and it's simply tragic that you had
to lose him so young. My heart goes out to you, as I understand your pain.
There was a gorgeous little stray tuxedo cat that used to visit my husband
in his guard hut at work all the time and keep him company. Eventually we
brought him home, and named him Gaspode (for the character from Terry
Pratchett's Discworld series, the scrappy little talking stray dog). He was
so loving, and so playful; he mustn't have been more than a year old.
Crowley and Greebo had gotten used to only going out in the back garden, but
because Gaspode was used to living rough, he had no fear, and one day he
escaped out the front door. We didn't see him for about three weeks, and
thought that we'd seen the last of him. But one evening we were getting out
of the car, and who should stroll up but Gaspy! We were so thrilled to see
him, but discovered he had a little wound on his neck over his shoulder. I
cleaned it up, and it was a small round hole. My husband said it looked
like a pellet hole, but because I'd thought the same thing with one of my
other cats, and x-rays showed it was only a bite, I thought maybe that was
the case with Gaspode, as he certainly seemed fine. Why I didn't take him
to the vet, I'll never know....then again, I do know, probably out of money
worries, though now I so regret making money an issue. Anyway, I cleaned
the wound with antiseptic, and it healed up fine. And he seemed fine for
about a month, though a little less sociable than usual, which we just wrote
off to something maybe having happened while he was away that made him a bit
wary. Why it never occured to us to make the connection, I'll never know.
But after he was back about a month, one night he came in, and his breathing
was badly labored, and he could barely move. I had to help him to the box,
and he wee'd nothing but a bit of blood. We took him to the vet the next
morning, and it turns out he *had* been shot, and the pellet went through
both his lungs and lodged next to his rib; his body must have tried to heal,
but then got infected, because his lungs and abdomen were filled with fluid,
and his bladder was filled with blood. The vet called with the bad news,
and I broke down and screamed and cried, "Not our baby Gaspode, no, no, no!"
I felt so guilty, he was only a baby. Anyway, she said we could operate,
but it would cost thousands, and there was no guarantee he would live
anyway. Still, we tried to figure out if we could be sneaky and use our
other cat's insurance, as we stupidly hadn't gotten Gaspode insured yet
(money worries again ), and we were desperate to try and save him. But
we realized they wouldn't buy that because our other cats are both all
black, and the doctor 'reassured' us that he probably wouldn't have made it
anyway. Still, I just wish we had been able to exhaust every option before
having to put him to sleep, as we would have done with anyone we loved. As
it was, there was no way in the world we could get that kind of money, so we
simply went back to the vet, told him how much we loved him, and watched him
pass quietly away. We took him home and cuddled him and cried, and the next
day, we buried him in the back garden on his favorite pillow with his kitty
advent calendar and a piece of fur off his favorite toy (I was going to bury
the whole thing with him, but my husband wanted it as a keepsake of him).
Then I nailed two pieces of branch together into a little cross for him,
which is still there now (he died this past December 6th). Our yard is very
bare right now, but we're trying to get it cleared so we can start planting,
and when we do, I'm going to plant something special on his grave, some
lovely flowers with some special significance. I still want to get a
special little gravestone for him, I saw some lovely ones at
RainbowBridgePetMemorials.com.

Anyway, I'm sorry to make you feel more sad, but I just wanted you to know I
could relate very closely to what you went through with Quetzie. Our
beloved pets will never be forgotten, no matter how long or short their time
with us. My heart goes out to you, Victor, and I know Quetzie and Gaspode
are there on the bridge, joyfully frolicking and waiting for us to join
them.

Warmest Wishes,
Ann

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http://www.angelfire.com/ca/bewtifulfreak