We were definitely not ready to say goodbye to Buddy. He was too young! Just a few years ago 11 years old would be old for a cat. But with today and the better foods, medicine, supplementation, Great Vets, cats are living longer healthier lives. Buddy had developed a tumor in his lymph gland. Being a cat, he adapted and didn’t show obvious signs of being uncomfortable tell it had grown to a point of be very obvious to us. With our great Woodburn Pet Hospital Vet’s assistance, we try several things to make him as comfortable as possible through this. But it did come down to having to decide that it was time.
He was a trooper! It was like he knew it was time to go and even looked up at us and said “It’s okay, it is time.” They are amazing animals! He was easing our discomfort even in the end. How can you beat that! We have had to make the decision on all our cats but some of them stand out as being the hardest, Buddy was one of those.
It is never easy to say goodbye to your feline friend. They are part of the family! I would say it is one of the hardest things to do as a cat owner or pet owner for that matter. Buddy had given us so much love and affection for his short years. We still are waiting for him to come up to us and bump our leg or jump on the bed to say "Hello". Fortunately phones with cameras is so popular now, we have a lot of pictures of him in the yard, in the house, helping with our online cat toy business and more. One of his favorite things was testing the Rabbit Fur Pom Pom Cat Toys. Even though the inventory was difficult to get to, he would find a way to grab one of them. We would find them in the hall, by his food dish, sleeping with them. Some days we would come home and there would be a line of them. How he got to them, we don’t know! He would change the color too! He would really throw us off and leave a sparkle ball by a shoe!
We want to thank the Vets and staff at Woodburn Pet Hospital for all the assistance over the years with Buddy and our other cats. We also want to thank the Carlson College of Veterinary Medicine to allow us to share our story and to offer support for the future OSU Veterinary students. We need you!