Caring Hurts (Repost)

This entry is a re-post of an incident that happened last year. It has now been exactly over a year since then, and in the critter's memory, I've decided to re-post this. This is one story that NEEDS to be heard.

Hee. It was a LONG 24 hours..... Where do I begin? I have to get this off my chest, though I warn readers, this isn't gonna be pretty. But I am posting it on my sheezyart, deviantart and LJ because I think it should be heard. Some of you might think I'm a sap, or I'm weak, some might think I'm immature and need to grow up, and others will think because it's not a human life it won't matter. But since when have I ever really gave a damn about what people think about my moral choices? I will say now that I was merely fulfilling my honorbound duty to be a shepard to a creature in need and while there was nothing I could do, I am glad I was able to atleast do something. With that said....

Sleeping in is a bummer when you have plans for a day. It throws everything off- so I got up late, did a few chores around the home, hoped in the car and battled the afterschool traffic out of my hometown. That was exactly 24 hours ago. I had a lot to do- pick up friend, get gas, visit 'work', go to my online class oriantation at 5:00, buy groceries because I had not yet had a chance to do that.... Yep. Busy day. Well, I made it to my friend's apartment, and I was just let in and was heading towards the stairs when something caught my eye: A black cat laying in the middle of a walkway. Now, feral cats usually don't lay in the middle of walkways. So I figured it was someone's pet and ignored it completely. I headed up the stairs when I heard a loud, urgent sounding "meow!". I paused and looked back at the cat. It meowed at me more, sounding more urgent. One good look told me this cat was definately not someone's pet; it had a cobweb on it's face, it's hips were sunken in and it looked very malneutritioned. It meowed more urgently at me. I meowed back and it's calls softened a little. It didn't look so hot, so I went down to examine it and it tried to get up and move, but walked lopsided in a circle and collapsed. For a moment there, I thought it had a broken leg, but I could almost literally see the bones under the cat's pelt and I saw no break anywhere. I let it take in my scent before I scratched it's head and went up to get my friends.

"Guys, we've got a sick cat downstairs..." I announced. After pratically an hour of delaying, I finally got two others (Ruka and Sharky ^.^ you two were SAINTS.) to go with me to take the cat to the nearest vet to see what was wrong with it and what we could do... I suspected it had worms at first.... I wish. Well. The vet looked at it. It was a girl, and she was dying of kidney failure. Our options:

1. Take her home and let her die slowly and painfully
2. Euthanize her for $200
3. Treat her for $1,200... or so I thought. If we could actually get that kidney removed for that much, I'd do it. Well, it turned out, that was the price just to hook her up to the IV. >.O; Ackakyakslfdpfk;adkfaspff!

But I didn't have time to stay. I had to hurry, I was already 20 minutes late for my orientation meeting to my online class. Well, I got there, talked to the teacher, met a girl who worked at a vet who could take care of the cat for cheaper prices and I took her up on that offer. After the oriantation, I bought my ridicoulusly overpriced text book, and hurried to pick up my friends and the cat. If she was so dehydrated, the vet could have AT LEAST injected water in her. But NOOO. I was vaugly reminded of why I LOATHE vets.... Freakin' extort money from people trying to save a family member/ possible family member... >.< What I don't get is why is it that it costed me $300 to save my cat Booger when he had that high fever, and yet there are clinics out there who GLADLY kill babies for free and the person getting an abortion gets all the anesthetics they need for free? It costs prettymuch an arm and a leg to save an animal (or to send it into the next world the nice way), and yet there's next to no pricetag to slay a child? WHAT IS WRONG WITH THIS PICTURE?!

Anyway. Sorry. I just see something messed up. -_-; So. I picked up my friends and the cat and went back to the apartment. I decided to stay the night so if the cat made it through the night, I'd be able to take it to the discount vet.... Or, well, if she didn't make it, at least she wouldn't die alone.... Ruka wanted to name her Elphaba, but after a while, I thought Amy suited her better, after the Evanescence singer, mainly because this was the bravest cat I had ever met. To call for help like that and not panic in the car was courage. So, I got us back to the apartment, and Ruka handed Elphaba/Amy to me (we wrapped her in a towel) and I cradeled her untill she wanted down. She didn't want to lay on the towel, so I just let her rest under it. She seemed to have lost the will to live, and she had lost her appetiete completely. I couldn't leave, she was definately dying. So I stayed by her side, held her paw, and talked to her. Every hour or so I got up to wash my hands, and each time I left her side, she started to meow. Each time I came back, I rubbed her freezing ears warm, petted her and held on to her paw. This was too painful to watch, and my friends thought so too. When they looked away, I did not. This cat's last request was to not be alone, and I was going to do what I could for her untill the end.

Hours passed. She layed there, never blinking. Slowly, but steadily, her body heat diminished, her breathing became irregular and her heart beat slowed down. A normal cat's heartbeat is FAST, but her's was alarmingly slow. After midnight I couldn't stand it anymore. This creature did NOT deserve to die like this, slowly and painfully. I was wishing I had just coughed up the $200 and ended her pain... but it was too late. We called animal control and asked if they could take her and euthanize her for us, but let me just say this... Animal Control needs to die. They need to boil in their own excrements, choke on snot, and die. Here is how our conversation went:

Me: *dials*
Phone: *ring* *ring* *ring* Then, a recording answers that sounds STARTELINGLY like Vincent Price. (If you've ever seen the Simpsons joke, that should give you an idea of what the recording sounded like.) O_O; Well... at least they were honest. o.0 I passed the phone around to my friends and we agreed, it was CREEPY. So, I

Voice: If you would like to adopt a pet, press 1. if you would.... (etc) Finally, if there is any other conscern, press 4
Me: *press*

So I got the fire department. O_o; Then they got someone at animal control to talk to me... The conversation went as follows:

Me: We've got a dying cat here. Is there anyway you can pick her up or we can come to you so you can euthanize her?

Animal Control: What kind of cat is it?

Me: A black cat. o.o

AC: Is it yours?

Me: No. We found her, and she's not going to last long. She is slowly dying as we speak, and we want to put her to sleep so she won't suffer anymore. The vet was charging us $200 to put it down, so we have no choice-

AC: Why were they charging $200? And I thought we were pricey.

Me: Look. Can you take care of her or not? I'll take her down there if nessicary.

AC: We can't. We can pick up in the morning though, no problem. What kind of cat is it? Is it a friendly cat?

Me: What?

AC: It's not agressive is it?

Me: No. o.< She can barely move.

AC: Okay, so we won't have to bring the chains or put it on a rod or anything?

Me: O_O NO. *thinking: Put her on a rod? What the fuck</B> do they mean by that?!* Look pal! She's DYING. Her body temperature is like, GONE. Her breathing is irregular, she has a SLOW heartbeat. I don't think you'll need to brign in the freakin' Marines to give her an injection! >.<;;;

AC: ....So it's not dangerous?

Me: *wishes the celphone had a cord so she could wrap it around her neck* No. She's not. In this condition, she's kinda helpless. She can't even contract her claws. So. Can we put her to sleep? She's dying, I'll pay up if you want me to. Name your price.

AC: We can pick it up in the morning no problem. Call the animal hospital in Norwalk if you need to.

Me: =.= *groans*...

I swear. You can only take so much stupidity....! Well. I stayed with the cat untill the end. At around 3:00 am she was gasping for air, which went on for a long 45 minutes before she drew her last breath. We layed her to rest temporarily on and below two towels. At 8 am (after sleeping near a complete health hazard) we called animal control to pick up the dead cat. "Okay, we'll send someone over" An hour and a half later, we tried again. "okay, we'll send someone over" ANOTHER #$¦amp;~@! hour and a half "Okay, we'll send someone over, but you'll have to wait a while and it'll be $60 at the door.

It was then that I nearly shouted at the person (the same one I talked to at 8 am) and I was about to tell her to go suck on a used tampon and die (Let's just say I can become VERY vulgar to people I don't like.... ESPECIALLY in the morning.) Finally I came to a compromise. I'd drop the dead cat off and she then proceeded to give me PERFECT, detailed directions on how to get to the Animal Control center. I swear to God, if we got sick/some kinda disease, I'm gonna march down there and kick someone in the crotch! (with steel-toed boots!!) >.< So, while everyone else was asleep at nearly 11:00 in the @#$ morning, Sharky and I proceeded to carry the dead cat (which had clearly hit rigormortis) to my car and drive to the Animal Control to drop it off. >.o Luckily for them, they didn't make me cough up the 20 dollars (or else I otherwise would have wretched on someone's feet and NOT been sorry for it.)

So.... I'm home. I THROUGHLY disinfected myself (I prettymuch had to Nuke my entire existance- attack my car with Lysol, throw my clothes into the washer, take a gazillion showers....

Oy. I really do wish I could have saved that cat. I hate watching things die... it's not the first time I saw something/someone die, and I doubt it'll be the last. I know. Death is a part of life, don't bother nagging me about it. Yes, I know I am a hippie. And no, I hate hamburgers because beef tastes like leather.... which makes me sick to my stomach when I walk into a leather shop. I can NOT stand the smell. >.< No, I'm not a vegan (I'd rather DIE than give up icecream), nor am I a vegetarian because I respect the food chain. I just wish I could have done more to save the poor thing, especially since I've been wanting a girl cat for a while... But in her last hours, I take comfort in knowing I did what I could to keep her feeling warm, comfterble and cared for. Caring is one of the strongest powers I know of... And I'm glad I was able to hold the cat's paw as she drew her last breath, and that she didn't die alone on the pavement. I did what I could.... I tried. And now.... I need sleep, ice cream, and maybe another shower.... and I have chores to do. ._.;

*crash*

And now for the epilogue! That night after I posted this (almost 24 hours after I called the animal shelter to see if they'd let me take the cat over to have her euthanised, I got a call from the idiot I talked to earlier (the one who was like "derr is it a nice cat? *slaps her chest to imitate the guy she spoke to*" ) telling me that NOW they were sending someone over- It took all my willpower to stop myself from cussing him out and I told him to cancel it, as the cat already died- SLOWLY AND PAINFULLY when she could have been spared that end if they had simply helped me out by euthanising her. -_- Idiots should NOT be allowed to breed...

Sites:
Guya's World ~> www.geocities.com/idioticlisa
MySpace~> www.myspace.com/_lislis_
SheezyArt ~> huntressguya.sheezyart.com
Platitudinous Ponderosities (live journal) ~> www.livejournal.com/users/idio…

Last Movie Watched: Over the Hedge (awesome!)
CD that Rocks my Socks: Long live the iPod...
Currently Reading: Nothing right now...
Irritating Add of the Milisecond: They're ALL irritating! >.o!!!
Random Factoid of the Month: Llama Llama Duck!
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