A MUSICAL TRIBUTE TO MR. SOCKS
My wife took him into the vets office this morning. An hour later, I got a call from her, and on the other end, I heard only sobbing. The vet had done a feline HIV test on the little guy, and the test came back positive. Further more, the vet said he was already pretty sick, and could not survive a winter. Unfortunately, it was time to make a very rough decision. Mr. Socks has been living on the back deck for two months now, and we honestly have grown extremly fond of the little guy. But this morning, we made the decision to put him at rest. It was hard, and it sucks, and it’s left a little bit of a hole in our home, but we just could not stand to watch the poor guy suffer, and gradually pass away. So it’s with more than a little sadness that today, we said goodbye to our little friend, Mr. Socks.
- The Jesus and Mary Chain – Nine Million Rainy Days
- The Replacements – Hold My Life
- The Velvet Underground – Pale Blue Eyes
- Happy Mondays – Jellybean
- Dinosaur Jr. – Out There
- Sebadoh – Broken
- The Sisters Of Mercy – Alice
- Fiona Apple – I Want You
- New Order – Kiss of Death
- Gang Of Four – Natural’s Not In
September 16th, 2008 at 9:32 am
way to go , god !
September 16th, 2008 at 9:54 am
@joe oblay:
Not sure I understand the comment. Certainly, I was not trying to act as god and determining life and death. The fact is that we could not bring Mr. Socks into our home…that would ensure that all of our cats were infected with feline HIV. According to the doctor, he was already sick, and his compromised immune system meant that his time was limited and the time he had left was going to be pretty agonizing on him. Our choice was to watch him die a slow and miserable death, or put the poor guy out of his misery. It was not a choice made lightly, nor a choice we’re happy to have made. Our preference was that he was healthy, in which case we would have been immunized and de-wormed, and we would have made sure he was healthy enough to have made it though the winter.
Now, if you were not sarcastically calling me out for trying to play god, my apologies. It’s a touchy subject, and one that devastated my wife emotionally, who sat with him as he was put to rest.
September 16th, 2008 at 10:01 am
I read your blog regularly and enjoy your musical choices.
I am so very sorry for you and your wife’s loss. May you find healing and solace. Know that loving anyone, including animals, enough to say goodbye takes a lot of strength and compassion. Mr. Socks was well-loved and that’s the best that each of us can hope for.
September 16th, 2008 at 10:08 am
Poor little guy. You did the right thing, for what it’s worth – he was already pretty sick, as the vet said, and the alternative would have been to wait until he was really suffering.
You took care of the little guy for a couple of months, which is more than most strays get.
Maybe you should check out one of the area’s many good shelters for another cat?
September 16th, 2008 at 10:22 am
@Jim:
Well, we are the proud parents of 8 cats, all of them but one from shelters, and the one that isn’t from shelters was a stray kitten we adopted in Florida. Honestly, we just don’t have space for another indoor kitty.
Thanks for the kind words…my wife will appreciate them.
September 16th, 2008 at 10:24 am
@Lisa:
Thanks for the sentiment. It was the first time either of us has ever had to do something like that, and it was brutally gut wrenching. At least we were able to provide some bit of comfort and care for the guy, and he wasn’t alone the past few months.
September 16th, 2008 at 10:51 am
What you did was show kindness to a little one who needed it. You and your wife are good people.
September 16th, 2008 at 10:55 am
And by the way, my take on joe oblay’s comment was he was calling out god for bringing Mr. Socks into your life only to take him away from you, in a very difficult way. I don’t think he was calling you god for making the humane but really tough decision you made. You did what had to be done, which wasn’t easy.
September 16th, 2008 at 11:01 am
I’m so sorry to hear about the loss of your little buddy. My wife and I had to put our beloved jet black tabby named Mister Mister down earlier this year and it hurts like hell. You have my thoughts and prayers and my desire that you jump off the diving board again after a bad bellyflop and get a new kitten soon, if you allow me to mix metaphors. Best always.
September 16th, 2008 at 11:10 am
@Michael:
I hadn’t thought of it that way. That’s a much better way to think about it overall. Thanks for giving me a better way to look at it.
I never blamed god, or anyone else for that matter. I tend to have a bit of a fatalistic point of view of life. Everything happens for a reason. This is just one of those things I don’t know why it happened, but I trust there was a reason for it, even it the only reason was to make my wife and I more compassionate people. Who knows. We did the best we could for the little guy, and sometimes, our best efforts are not enough in life.
September 16th, 2008 at 11:13 am
@Larry:
My condolences to you then. If Mister Mister was anything like our 8, I know how hard that had to have been. Ours are like kids…we don’t have any children together (we each have two from previous marriages), so they really are our kids. Each has a distinct personality, and each go into making out house a home.
September 16th, 2008 at 12:14 pm
Losing petss sucks. My condolences.
September 16th, 2008 at 12:46 pm
@Jen:
Thanks. And yes, it sucks in almost the worst way.
September 16th, 2008 at 3:08 pm
oh that sucks, i’ve had my cat jello for about 13 years and i’m dreading that day coming when the kinder option is the painful one, you have my sympathies. kudos to you for looking after a stray and giving him the pleasure that someone else never had the decency to provide