Heather and I had to have Lucas put to sleep today. It was without a doubt the hardest decision I’ve ever had to make. We had been preparing ourselves for the worst ever since he fell ill, but now that it has actually come to pass, it feels so much worse than I could have imagined. I fed him with a syringe for nearly three months, but his condition was only worsening and we were left with very few options. We couldn’t see putting through it anymore when there was no real hope of recovery.
What more can I say? Call me sappy if you must. I love all animals, almost to a fault in fact. We’ve still got a dog and a cat that are loved much, but Lucas was easily my favorite. In fact, I venture a guess that he was the best cat the world may ever know. There’s an enormous hole in my heart left by that little guy, and we count ourselves lucky for being able to spend the last nine years with him.
Here’s a rambling list of things we’ll remember about Lucas:
- milk stripe
- wire ties
- tinkle dance
- biscuit stomp
- 3AM purr attack (with face taps)
- bathroom greetings
- back porch gazing
- toy basket ransack
- always listened
- always responded
- work time == laptime
- office chair balancing
- wire in the water bowl
- third floor castaway
- snaggle tooth
- movie time == talk time
- Stella terrorizer
- defender against 100lb dogs
- suitcase warmer
- water glass licker
- body builder
- rough rubdown
- cry baby
- slow snacker
- keyboard crasher
- sloppy pee(er)
- hater of automobiles and baths
- paw sharpener
- destroyer of fingers/ring eater
- shredded paper enthusiast
- tub walker
- never without his tuxedo
Ahh, this post made me cry…
I am so sorry for you guys. I didn’t know Lukas was sick. What happened? He was happy/healthy when we visited in September.
He got sick very shortly after you guys left and just got progressively worse. He stopped eating and lost a lot of weight, and it was just all downhill from there.
We had him in the vet’s office numerous times trying to figure out what was wrong, but our vet was stumped. I was force-feeding him and he was on a couple different meds, but nothing was helping. He was only getting worse.
The next step would have been to do an exploratory surgery that may or may not have actually helped. Heather and I (and the vet) had serious doubt that he could recover from the surgery even if it had been successful. Aside from whatever initially caused him to stop eating, he had developed a host of other complications probably due to malnutrition.
Summation: Shittiest day for the Cokers in recent memory.
Sorry for your loss my friend, I know the pain of losing a loved one. I had to put my Doberman down last year and it took awhile to get over the sorrow. I am extremely attached to my animals well all animals in fact I cant even watch the meek rat manor without feeling sorry for them. Anyway I will keep Lucas in our thoughts and get my greyhounds to lay out there prayer carpets and say a few words to the man upstairs!!!! BTW if you didn’t already know I will be officially joining the club that you and Heather recently became members of if you know what I mean
I am floored over the news!! Try trillian sometime its great fun. Bye buddy!
You forgot to mention 3am heating duct explorer (that was quite a scare)! Thank you for the lovely post honoring our Lucas (for anyone reading, named after George [Lucas], when Branden was still at the height of his Star Wars enthusiasm) - he was truly such a unique cat and has given us many special memories since he appeared from nowhere on our doorstep over 9 years ago. We’ll never have another like him.
Wow, brother I’m in shock. Our internet status has been out for the last couple of days, so I haven’t been checking . And today when I got here I was shocked. Deep sadness. I’m very sorry.
When God created everything He said that “it” was good. Lucas was part of that goodness. I think about this quite often. Love, brother.
Oh Guys i am so sorry to hear about Lucas. Well as we all know with death there becomes new life. Guess what Guys???? I just found out im pregnant!!!!!! Crazy Huh! Im only 4 weeks along but doing great. I hope all is well with little Linus!
You made a 32 year old man tear up.
I am not looking forward to the day I have to say goodbye to Noah. I already had to face that once, but he had a miraculous recovery.
Anyway, here’s what the Lord says…
Matthew 5:4 Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted.
I’m crying as if he were my own…trying to hold back tears. Lucas was very loved by the Cokers.
My family had many cats over the yrs & I haven’t forgotten any of them. All of them are part of my life and worth more than I ever could give.
As long as I’m alive, my bed & floor will have patches of fur to clean and the air will have occasional linger longers from the litter box that are biologically unpreventable.