March 20, 2008

Today was a bad day. I walk out of the house to my car and see Grey - the feral I have been feeding in the garage - lying there as if he was waiting for me. I talk to him and ask if he is hungry - he walked up to me and started meowing. I reached down and petted his head - he seemed to enjoy it. I figured he wanted some food so I went back to the door and he followed me. I opened the door and he ran right in. He was thin as a rail and seemed to be in pretty bad shape. He went into the kitchen and found the food and water. He nibbled at the food but then started drinking and kept going for a while. I grabbed a carrier and we put him in and drive him to the vet. I knew something was seriously wrong with him and wanted him looked at ASAP. he didn't want to go into the carrier but didn't really struggle. Once there the vet looked him over - he didn't fight or anything. He had about 3 teeth and a very bad mouth infection. Apparently he is about 12 -14 years old - he has been living out there a long time. He was severly dehydrated and weighted next to nothing - I couldn't even tell he was in the carrier.

The vet ran tests on him - he was FeLV positive and suffering from it - his kidneys were shutting down. There was no hope for him so I agreed to put him down - but it wasn't an easy decision to make. Grey had been someone's pet. He loved getting his chin rubbed and was neutered. It hit me hard because I could only imagine Roy being in the same condition - out there making his way and then wasting away from a disease. Grey is now buried in my backyard and I hope that he has some of the peace he was missing in this life.