He was a good cat. . .

The hardest thing about having pets is deciding when and if to end their suffering. You have a reluctance to end a life, that you choose, and you have a sadness of missing the animal after he's gone. You also have a responsibility to do the right thing, which is usually one of the hardest things you could ever do. To watch a loving, sweet pet languish in their own body fluids, not able or wanting to move, eat or drink is more than I can take for very long. I am lucky to have a sensitive and caring veterinarian, Mike Morath, who understands and supports my pets and their quality of life. I will miss my sweet baby, but he is not suffering now. Maybe if God cares about animals, like I hope He does, I'll see him again someday.

Charlie

When I refer to millions of cats, I don't really mean that I love all cats, or that I have a million of them. I have only one now that I love more than any cat I've had for a long time. When we got Charlie from Craigslist two years ago in August, we looked like this picture. He had been abandoned by his mom, and when he came in the car with me, he immediately snuggled into my shoulder and claimed me as his new mom. He loves just being near me and often sits in front of the computer monitor as I work. However, last night, something happened to him and he got injured somehow, and since it's the Fourth, no vets are available except the local emergency, for HUGE profit, veterinary clinic. Our regular vet in Plainview is out of town, so the soonest we can get him in there is tomorrow morning. I'm broken up over it, and I hope it's something that we can fix and he can recover from. I know that cats are really resilient, so I won't give up hope for my favorite baby. I know he's just an animal, but he makes my life worth living a lot of days.