Good bye to Rudy

Let me preface by saying that I didn't even know I was an animal lover. After writing this I think I might be the crazy lady with 40 cats in a couple years. If you are annoyed by people that like pets you can stop reading, of course I thought I was one of those people...

Before we had kids (Seb made me wait till he was done with school... mean, or responsible) we got a kitty. Apparently we really should have had kids because he kind of became our child. We took him on vacation to Grandma's house and silly stuff like that. His full name became Rudolph J. Fussy Wuddles (are we those crazy pet people? yes). Then when we finally did have kids he put up with them, till they fell asleep then he slept on them. I could get a kid to take a nap by telling them, "If you are really quiet and don't move around Rudy will jump up with you and cuddle you!" And it worked. Now what am I going to do? Who is going to put O (the least wiggly one) to bed every night? Who is going to be the lump of soft fur asleep on my bed all day? Who's going to do "push paw" to my arm till it's soar? Who is going to cry and cry to get fresh water every morning (probably still one of the girls)? Who knew I really liked him all that much? I don't think I did till I found him outside face down in the dirt. He had thrown up on the carpet while we were at church so I put him outside then I couldn't find him that night. I felt so bad when I finally did find him the next morning. He couldn't even pick up his head. So I got the girls from school and we all sat around and cried. O was begging him not to die. Try not to cry when you hear a kid do that! Z was sure he would live because she said a prayer for him. Seb came home from work early and took him to the vet who said he was already half dead. So we had a little family home evening, by the fire trying to get his kitty temperature back up, then Seb picked him up and he died in his arms. So sad. He looked alive still but he was gone. We all petted (?) him till the grave was dug then cried out one the back deck while we buried him. S freaked out when we had to cover up the box, so sad. The girls wrote notes and put it in with him S's said "I loved cleaning out your litter box."??? She is such a sweet kid. I really wish our fence was in and all the neighbors couldn't see us. I am sure we were quite a sight all hugging each other and crying. Seriously it was so pathetic but I couldn't help myself. Here are some happier times:

The focus is all off, but Rudy knew he could get some petting when I was feeding the babies.
He let you hold him like a baby, what cat ever lets you do that? Oh wait our cousins?
He always loved me most when I was pregnant and would lay next to the baby bump.
Some of the harassment he put up with.


He always looked grumpy, maybe that is why some neighbor kids were afraid of him, but he was totally sweet and harmless (no claws). I don't know if I ever want a pet again. That was all so sad. Is it always that bad?