empty collar, no more kitteh

MyFavoriteKid is home sick from school.
It is raining out.
And I just had to put my cat down.

I'm so incredibly sad, and I don't feel much like eulogizing. I also know how I am about getting back to posts that I avoid in the first place because they are too emotional, so maybe I'll say at least this much for now:

Tramp just turned 18 last week. He'd been with me since I was 23. I'm 41 now. We go way back.

He was acting a little strange over the weekend, but he wasn't acting like he was in pain. My plan was to bring him to the vet first thing this morning after dropping MyFavoriteKid off at school. That didn't happen because MyFK stayed home sick, but by 1030am or so, Tramp's "acting a little strange" became acting a whole lot strange. Within an hour, it was a rapid downward spiral, and his state progressed from bad to worse while we were at the vets.

MyFK decided to come with me, even though I gave him the option of staying at home by himself. My parents were unavailable to babysit, and TheMostImportantGuy offered to come up and either stay with MyFK or take the cat in. We had actually decided to do some version of that. I had just made a 330pm vet appointment, giving TheMIG time to get here, but like I said, it became clear that cat was not going to make it that long. MyFk agreed we should just go, and that he would come, too.

Tramp just sort of fell apart while we were there in the office. He had a tumor, and the vet wasn't at all confident that he'd survive the treatments they would offer. He was just really old, and really really weak. It was an extremely difficult to decision to make to put him down, but I just couldn't see him being poked and prodded in his last hours by strangers only so they could re-determine that he wasn't able to withstand surgery anyhow.

MyFK and I were both with him when he went to sleep, and it was really hard, and really sad, and I'm crying about it now, so I should probably quit typing. This is the first pet MyFk has lost (besides a Beta Fish, not that a fish doesn't count...it does...but this seems bigger), and Tramp had been with him since he was born. We'll be getting his ashes back in a couple of weeks, and we'll do a proper ritual when we bury him in the yard.

Tramp was a cranky old cat, and I used to call him NuisanceKitty, because...well, he WAS a NuisanceKitty. But I loved him so very much, and life without him after so long is going to be very strange.


I will miss you KittenHead.

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I'll try to keep up with Blog365, but please forgive if you just see a bunch of FillerTypeCrap here for a few days.
I just need a little time.