A farewell to my cat. For real this time.

Almost two years ago, I wrote this post after my cat got out of the house and was gone for five days. I figured for sure that she was dead, but she waltzed back into the house 10 days after she got out, and life went back to normal (well, except for the worms and fleas she picked up on her "adventure." I'm just glad she was spayed so she didn't come home pregnant, too).

Unfortunately, Gizmo's time with us has come to an end. On Tuesday night, she must have slipped out when I was bringing in groceries, and we think she was hiding in the wheel well of B's truck. (You can see where this is going, can't you?) As I was feeding R on Wednesday morning, B comes back to the house after leaving for work and tells me he accidentally ran over Gizmo. She was alive, but hurt pretty badly. Luckily, my mom was coming to the house to watch the boys that day, so I wouldn't have to worry about hauling her all over creation before I could get her to a vet. I took her to the vet thinking that she only had a badly broken leg, but it turned out that she also had a broken back, and was paralyzed from about her hips back. The vet told me her chances of recovery were "very poor," so I made the decision to put her down.

And I'm crushed.

She was a pain in the ass sometimes (especially after we brought R home), but I still loved her. She was with me through a lot of stuff over the past five years. I appreciated how well she tolerated being tortured played with by W. He was just figuring out how to say her name, and would stand at the top of the basement stairs yelling, "Gim-mo! Gim-mo!" when he was looking for her. It was super cute.

I love this picture of the two of them. It was taken when W was about seven months old, and it really shows the kind of relationship they had - W would go after her wanting to play, and Gizmo would be ready to beat his ass if he got too close. It was a match made in heaven.

You know, I've had a million cats over the years, and most of them met untimely ends. We lived in the country, so it wasn't unusual for cats to disappear, be eaten by wildlife, or be hit and killed by the cars speeding past our house. But I've never really had a long-term indoor cat that I got so close to, and I've never had to deal with putting one of my cats down. It sucks. I had to do laundry last night, and every time I went down and saw the empty space where her litter box and food had been, I felt a pang of sadness. I was very thankful that my mom cleaned all of her stuff up for me and B took care of her burial before I got home on Wednesday.

Gizmo, we'll miss you. I won't miss the hair you left all over my house or the chunks you tore out of every.single.pair. of flip flops I've owned since I brought you home, but I will very sorely miss snuggling with you, watching you "play" with W, and the unconditional love you gave.

Rest in peace, kitten.