Sad day

We had to put Dolly to sleep today. She was so sick, and so skinny. She has always been around 13 pounds, but today when they weighed her she was down to 6 pounds. I have never had to put a pet down before. I was with my elderly neighbor when her dog was put down. Her dog had been hit by a car, and we rushed it to the vet, but he was too far gone. I went in the room with her while she said goodbye, and while they put the dog to sleep. It was really sad, but it is so different when it is your own pet laying there on the table. It is a mix of peaceful and awful. Peaceful knowing that your pet isn't going to suffer anymore, but awful that you are losing your pet.

Dolly has been with me for a long time. I got her from a farm when she was just a 3 month old kitten. We named her Dolly because she always loved to be held like a doll baby. She would even let me hold her like that and rock with her. We got her shortly after my second miscarriage, and she was such a comfort for me. She has been my lap kitty. If I sat down, Dolly would always come to sit on my lap within about 5 minutes, even when she started getting sick. She purred the minute I said her name or touched her. I always joked that she was part dog because she always came when you called her, and she would greet us at the door. The past several months she stopped greeting us at the door. We always found her laying down on the bath rug in our bathroom. Several times I was sure she wasn't alive. Her quality of life was not good, and I didn't want her to suffer. Jeff and Evie went with me to the vet, but they waited in the waiting room while I went in. She was still purring and rubbing on me in the vets office, even though she didn't feel good. The vet was so nice, and so loving. She sedated her first, so Dolly just laid there peacefully. They gave me some time alone with her while she was sedated. I had to laugh because Dolly passed some of the worst gas ever when she was sedated. It helped me a bit through the process because it was funny. The vet and I couldn't help but laugh because the smell was soooo bad. I went through times of bawling my head off today and times where I was fine. I keep remembering all the funny things she did, like drinking water with her paw. She would dip her paw in her water bowl and lick it off. She almost never drank water with her mouth in the bowl. When she wanted us to get up in the morning, she would get in our face, meow, and take her paw and nudge us over and over. Whenever I sat at the dinner table, she would sit up with her back paws on the floor and her front paws on my chair, and she would poke me with her paw and meow for food. Kinda like she was saying, "Hey, what about my food!" When we came back to the house today, I kept expecting to see her laying on the couch. When I walked in the kitchen, I kept expecting her to walk in and meow for food. I feel such a sadness right now, but I am happy she isn't in pain anymore. I lost a good friend today.