Goodbye Grindle

Last night I had to have my cat Grindle euthanized. It was a very hard thing to do. He was 17 years old, had health problems, and had been urinating outside of the litter box for at least 10 years. His urinating has become dangerous for our baby, not merely an inconvenience. Tom and I had been taking care of him and cleaning up after him, but with the last incident, I came to the conclusion that it could not go on like this.

At the end of the 2 days of rain here in the midwest after hurricane Ike hit the gulf coast, we got flooding in our basement through a crack in the foundation that had been previously repaired. With the flooding, it hydrated the crystallized urine that Tom and I had missed down in the basement, and we apparently missed a lot of it. Our whole house stank of cat urine really, really bad. It stank so bad that the smell woke me up out of a sound sleep at 4:30 in the morning on Monday. And the smell of cat urine has been here ever since. We had to rip out the carpet in the basement and we will need to replace some of the wall paneling too. That helped much with the smell but it is still lingering.

I can't have Andrina breathing in the ammonia from the cat urine. I'm afraid that Grindle became a health hazard to my baby. I spoke to our vet and with his advanced age and health problems, chances are he would be euthanized at a shelter or spend the rest of his life in a cage at a no-kill shelter. And with the mortgage crisis and all the animals that had to be given up to shelters because their owners lost their homes, there are no shelters that are currently accepting animals. I know, I called them.

So, with much sadness, I made the appointment to have him euthanized yesterday as late in the day as I could. The lawn had thankfully dried out after all the the rain and flooding so I was able to let Grindle spend the afternoon in the sunshine on the lawn with me. We spent about an hour outside together, then we came inside so he could have dinner. He lounged around inside for about an hour and then we went back outside together until it was time to leave.

This was such a sad thing for me to do. I was crying throughout the day caused by the horrible anticipation. But Grindle really enjoyed his last day. I literally spent hours holding him and petting him, things I've been too busy as a mom to do lately. He loved his dinner and loved all of the cuddling and sunshine on the lawn. I told him while we were outside that I loved him, but I love my baby more and I had no other choice and that I was so sorry that this was happening. If he understood, he must have been ok with it because he just lapped up the affection and purred.

Grindle was such an affectionate kitty. Up until the end, he purred when I held him. And I held him in my arms and he was purring when he died. I wish it had not come to this. I'm sorry Grindle.

Grindle as an older kitten. This was taken in either 1991 or 1992.

He was lying on the bed I had as a teenager. He used to sleep with me.

Grindle in his prime. Here he is about a year old. It was probably 1992 when this picture was taken.

Me and Grindle when he was a kitten. My boyfriend at the time, found him and gave him to me. He named him Grindle after the monster Grendel in the classic poem Beowulf. He thought the name Grendle was too mean for such a sweet kitten, so we changed it slightly to Grindle.
Grindle was about 10 weeks old when I got him. He can't be more than 4 months old in this picture, taken in the fall of 1991. I was only 17 and had just started my senior year of high school.

Since I was 17 when I got Grindle, and he was 17 when he died, I literally had him for half of my life. He was there for me through so much and I really miss him.

Grindle and I on our last day together, enjoying the sunshine for as long as he could.

He really loved being cuddled and he was purring when Tom took this picture.

Enjoying the sunshine...

Lounging in his favorite spot in the house, the landing between the 1st and 2nd floors.

Goodbye Grindle.

Thank you for all of the affection you have given me for the past 17 years. Thank you for all of your purring, it let me know that you loved me too. I hope to meet you again someday.

Love Your Human Mommy, Shellie

Grindle
June 1, 1991 - September 17, 2008