Not sure (really) whether to be sad or a little happy
We lost one of our oldest feral cats this morning. She'd been a part of a colony since 2006 when she was spayed and returned and recently had been declining rapidly. She was very, very feral and not touchable at all. We had considered trying to trap her for medical care, but the consensus of the colony caretakers was that doing that would have been too traumatic to her. We would also not have been able to give any needed medications, etc. We already knew she would not take meds in food from a past situation with an upper respiratory infection where we tried to smuggle some antibiotic into some tasty food. She was too wiley and KNEW we were up to something, and walked away. She ultimately recovered from the URI. Lately, she'd been losing weight, drinking much more water than usual, and not grooming herself. We figured it was a kidney issue, and according to our vet, kidney disease is one of the lesser as far as degree of pain and discomfort, etc. So, the decision was made to let nature take its course. I never know what the right decision is...but this seemed right for this girl.
So, we know she was at least 10 years old because she wasn't a youngster when we trapped her in 2006. Within the managed colony, she always had ready access to food, water and shelter. I hope that made her life better.
I'm sad because I will miss her, and because it was me who found her this morning. Thankfully, all indications are that she passed peacefully, and we are all grateful for that.
I guess I'm a little happy because we had her in the colony for that amount of years. The average life expectancy for a feral cat is about three years, so she had more years than expected. I'm happy that she's no longer suffering, too. But the tears are still coming because she's gone. The sadness is going to be around for a while.
Rest in peace, sweetheart, until we meet again at the bridge...
= new reply since forum marked as read
your loss 
