Luck winds down

[stillsostrange]

I had to have a cat euthanized tonight. Not one of my cats, but this doesn't make me feel a whole lot better.

I pulled out of the bookstore tonight to run errands, and immediately saw a cat lying in the road, moving. He didn't move when I hopped out, but was alert. He let me touch him, and then scoop him up and put him in the car. Luckily, there's an emergency clinic close to the store, so I headed there. At first he seemed so calm, but he finally got annoyed when I stopped to double-check directions, and I could see his back legs weren't functional. I was hoping it was only a broken leg, but when I took him into the clinic I could feel that something wasn't right.

It turned out his pelvis had been shattered, with nerve damage. The vet, who was very nice, was reluctant to recommend surgery, since even after an expensive reconstruction she couldn't give me good odds he'd ever have used his legs again. So I petted him and told him how nice he was and signed the form.

I know it's pretty amazing that I've lived to the age of 31 without having to sign that form before, or witness it done. I've had a long lucky streak with animals, of taking in strays with easily fixable problems, finding homes--or, in the case of the several who've died, of not having to make a decision about it.

He was a very nice cat. I'm glad he didn't die alone on a cold road, but that isn't really a lot of glad at all, in the end.

Comments

[marthawells.livejournal.com]

Even when you know it's the absolutely right decision and there's no other choice, it's a horrible thing to have to go through.