R.I.P. Prince

Today has been one of the hardest and most emotional days that I've lived through so far. Prince, my cat of 17 years had to be put to sleep. I can't remember a time Prince hasn't been around. I'm the youngest in my family and all my siblings where married or living on their own for most of my life so it felt a lot like I was an only child. While it felt like I was an only child, I wasn't lonely. Prince was always there for me. He has always been one of my best friends. It's amazing how much a pet can mean to you!!

A month ago Prince became paralyzed from the waist down. The vet didn't know why, it was a mystery. Even if I would have been able to afford thousands of dollars worth of test and MRI's, he would not have been able to live through a surgery that the vet wasn't confident would do any good anyways. Prince was not only old, but also had a heart murmur so surgery wouldn't have been in his best interest. After being in the vet hospital a few days he showed a little improvement so I couldn't bring myself to put him down. I decided to take him home and just hope he would recover with time. He did slowly get a little better but his improvement hadn't progressed in the past couple weeks and I just couldn't watch him drag his little body around any more. It was a very sad sight! Prince has always been a very lively cat and I can only imagine how upsetting it's been on him to not be able to get around. My parents were wonderful and took him for me. I was able to say goodbye to him here at home and they took him and stayed with him until he was gone. I was grateful, I'm happy he didn't have to die alone. They said he didn't cry or try to get off the exam table like he usually does when he was at the vet. He laid there calmly and slipped away quickly and peacefully. He must have known he was leaving this life, that in the end of was so hard for him, to go onto somewhere better.

Prince has been the best cat ever and will be extremely missed!!