Sad days starting yesterday afternoon. Orangie, the stray cat who adopted us 11+ years ago, crossed over to the other side with help from two loving humans. An outdoor abandoned feral, he would stare at us from atop the outside chair back. Open the door, and he would run.
In the meantime, DucatiKitty, strictly an indoor cat, desperately wanted out. The two cats would look at each across the window pane and imagine swapping places. Eventually Shauna Bishop was able to touch Orangie, a toy was his trigger to allow human closeness.
Sadly, DucatiKitty disappeared, most likely a coyote, but at least DucatiKitty had a chance to experience what he so desperately wanted and needed.
Orangie loved water, weird for a cat. Every morning after showering, he would jump on the toilet lid and insist I drip water on him, which immediately triggered a cat splishsplash bath.
We're not sure how old Orangie was. He was full adult when he chose us, back in Dec 2011. Guessing 2 - 4 years old. He had outdoor smarts, avoided coyotes, and could feed himself off mice and baby rabbits, although he did develop a taste for canned food and dry treats. Congestive heart failure is now the main killer, not kidneys, according the vet. That's what took OrangeMan out. Vet said he was suffering, labored breathing due to enlarged heart and abdominal fluids pressing against the lungs.
There was no choice, we had to let Orangie pass peacefully into future cat journeys. The euthanization was calm, peaceful, dignified respectful. We held him as he crossed over. Orangie knew we were there for him when he needed us most.
Damn this shit hurts.
https://vimeo.com/552043035
2021-05-17 Orangie's GoodBye.m4v from dcarver220b on Vimeo.