rusty

RAINBOW BRIDGE

Just this side of heaven is a place called Rainbow Bridge.

When an animal dies that has been especially close to someone here, that pet goes to Rainbow Bridge.

There are meadows and hills for all of our special friends so they can run and play together.

There is plenty of food, water and sunshine, and our friends are warm and comfortable.

All the animals who had been ill and old are restored to health and vigor; those who were hurt or maimed are made whole and strong again, just as we remember them in our dreams of days and times gone by.

The animals are happy and content, except for one small thing; they each miss someone very special to them, who had to be left behind.

They all run and play together, but the day comes when one suddenly stops and looks into the distance. His bright eyes are intent; His eager body quivers. Suddenly he begins to run from the group, flying over the green grass, his legs carrying him faster and faster.

You have been spotted, and when you and your special friend finally meet, you cling together in joyous reunion, never to be parted again. The happy kisses rain upon your face; your hands again caress the beloved head, and you look once more into the trusting eyes of your pet, so long gone from your life but never absent from your heart.

Then you cross Rainbow Bridge together....

Poem For Cats

And God asked the feline spirit

Are you ready to come home?

Oh, yes, quite so, replied the precious soul

And, as a cat, you know I am most able

To decide anything for myself.

Are you coming then? asked God.

Soon, replied the whiskered angel

But I must come slowly

For my human friends are troubled

For you see, they need me, quite certainly.

But don't they understand? asked God

That you'll never leave them?

That your souls are intertwined. For all eternity?

That nothing is created or destroyed?

It just is....forever and ever and ever.

Eventually they will understand,

Replied the glorious cat

For I will whisper into their hearts

That I am always with them

I just am....forever and ever and ever.

Author Unknown

GOODBYE SWEET RUSTY!

Rusty became ill the beginning of October 2005 though I guess he wasn't too good long before that. Cats have a great way of hiding illness! October 5th Rusty started sleeping in a neighbours outside toilet, something he would never usually do, and I began to question if his health was ok. I had heard how cats go away to die, how they like to die alone, but I wasn't going to let my baby die alone in the cold!

Rusty was kept indoors from 9th October and seemed happy enough, though he didn't seem his usual self.

October 18th, early hours of the morning I found Rusty lying on the kitchen floor gasping for breath, it was heartbreaking watching him struggling to breathe. I rang an emergency vet who told me to bring him in for a check-up.

I tried to lift Rusty up to place in his cat-carrier but he protested wildly and his breathing became so bad I thought he was going to die right there and then. I decided to just lie on the floor next to him and calm him down by stroking his head and talking to him. I was so convinced he was going to die that I stayed up with him until 8am, before catching a few hours much-needed sleep.

The afternoon came and Rusty seemed to cheer up just a little. His breathing was still laboured but he tried eating a little food, he hadn't eaten much the day before yet I had offered him chicken, his favourite!

By 4pm I knew Rusty had to go see the vet, so I took him with my hubby in the car, not in the cat carrier but in my arms.

The vet listened to Rusty's chest and told me he had fluid on his lungs. He checked his eyes and temperature and told me Rusty was very very poorly, he had kidney & liver failure too, and his stomach was full of fluid! Rusty lay on the vet's table struggling to breathe as I held him. I had to make a heartbreaking decision whether to end Rusty's life or keep him alive to suffer and die in the near future. With tears in my eyes I decided to let him go, for his sake, not mine!

I stayed with Rusty and cuddled him while the vet shaved his leg and prepared the anaesthetic, Rusty began purring loudly as I stroked him and talked to him, telling him everything was going to be ok.

The needle was inserted and I continued to talk through my sobs whilst cuddling him at the same time.

Within seconds I realised Rusty had fallen asleep. His eyes were half open and his heavy breathing had stopped, death had shadowed my little fur-baby and I was heartbroken. I talked to Rusty for another minute or so, just in case he could still hear me, I told him goodbye and night night, that I loved him so much!

I stood back and looked at his still body, it was sad but nice to see he wasn't struggling for breath anymore, he looked at peace, like he was just sleeping, though half-awake and looking at me. I stroked his head one last time, but it was so still, so lifeless, so cold. My precious baby's soul had already flown, and I walked away as the vet lifted Rusty's lifeless body. One glance back, and then I walked away in floods of tears, with only memories of a beautiful cat that came into my life 13 years earlier and stole my heart.

Rest in peace sweet Rusty, I'll never forget you.

love mamma