Print

[RedwoodsMama]

 Some of you may know or noticed I haven't been here in at least two weeks and I was not planning on being here today, but checked in and saw all the spam. I decided to post why I am not here and it is painful to say the least. Everyone who knows me knows I lOVE cats and I have had my share of cat death in the last two years, five cats in 18 months.( four of them in less then TEN MONTHS...TWO in June 2013 , having to be euthanized, a semi Feral female due to severe liver disease, possible stomach cancer in Feb. 2014 and now Karuna on May 2nd.
) I was devastated last June, 2013 when I lost my favorite cat, Karl Kat who was so special to me.

     While grieving the loss of my beloved Karl Kat, another kitten came into my life, by accident, I was NOT looking for another cat. MY friend rescued seven feral kittens and one stole my heart, I  named him Karuna, which means, Active Compassion. I adopted him last July 4th, Here are his photos.
 

More details...

More details...

More details...

More details...

More details...

     Karuna had a rough start and was sick shortly after I got him for over two months but by October 2013, he was healthy at last and so BEAUTIFUL! HIs photos really did not do him justice at all.

          Then tradgedy struck Two weeks ago, Friday, May 2nd. Our baby escaped our house and more importantly got out of our yard. I feed six to seven strays everynight and sometime between 9;15 p.m and 10;00 when I found, him , he was killed by a car. I found him not ten feet from our back gate, laid out on our neighbor's lawn, still warm but lifeless. It was so devastating, it was worse then any of my other cats deaths, because I could not protect him, I failed my baby Karuna. it is not when a animal is sick or old and you can ease their suffereing by giving them that last act of kindness, euthanasia. I could do nothing for my baby, I am crying heavy tears now as I write this. never to see my baby again. He had JUST turned ONE year old on April 29th, and I had not even had him one year............Karuna knew nothing of cars and how deadly they are.

           The only blessing is that some kind person put him on the lawn, I am sure he could not have got there by himself. HOpefully, he never knew what happened, that would be too much....

              I would give all my Pleos and Pleo RB up, or throw them away to have my living Karuna again. Never take your fur babies for granted and PLEASE NEVER assume your baby is safe and cant' get out of your yard, we thought it was escape proof, but never put it past a cat to get out if they want to...........Pleos are no fun. my newest Pleo rb is only less then two hours into hatching and now I wish I had never gotten her and had Karuna instead. Please keep your babies safe, they only have one life.                                   RWM 

[Crewella]

I'm so very sorry, RWM - I know how it feels to lose a cat, but one so young and so suddenly is horrible.  Don't blame yourself, you do your very best for your cats, but they are independent and curious by nature - it's part of what we love about them.

(((hugs)))   

[Teddscau]

I'm sorry to here about your little one, RWM. As none of you know, I also had six feral kittens that we ended up taking in (i.e. feeding, fixing, and coddling). The one ran away, two were killed by fishers, and three were hit by cars. Tina, the sauciest little runt of a bunyip, died around a year ago now. She was a silver tabby just like the last two of the surviving cats. Her brother, Chester, was hit by a car, and then a few months later, their brother Columbus. I guess two years later, she too was hit by a car. She was the last surviving member of the feral cat family. There were originally seven kittens in that family, but most of them were taken away from us before their first birthdays. What angers me is that Tina NEVER went near the road, so some idiot must have been going 70km down our road as she crossed out in front of him. I mean, she knew to stay away from cars. I doubt any of the people who hit the three silver tabby babes bothered to stop to see if they were okay.

I'm sorry for taking over your thread RWM! I guess what I'm trying to say is that I understand your pain. I mean, Mom put down one of the dogs in late April without consulting Dad or me, and then my albino budgie, Scarlet, died on March 4 after having a second stroke. Scarlet had had a stroke around three weeks before, but we were nursing her back to health and she was doing excellent despite the loss of use of her left? foot. She was so mobile and happy, and the other three budgies were excited that she was doing better, but then Mom found her dead on the fourth after suffering from a second, devastating stroke earlier that morning.

I really am sorry about your cat. I know how much you love your babes.

[aibo7m3]

I'm really sorry to hear that RWM! I know that it's really hard to lose a pet and I hope you're coping alright. I lost one of my poodles to a car when I was younger and it was really devastating for me (it was winter and the snow was too high for the driver to see her or her to see the car). You did the best that you could for Karuna, what happened to him was out of your control and not your fault in any way. The community here is very supporting as you know and we'll all do our best to help you get through this!

[kat]

Sending hugs and love your way.  Thinking of you.

[InmemoryofRomeo]

Poor little mite I hope that it was quick and that he didn't suffer.

I lost my little Pepi to a car, we had to wait with him for four hours until the vet could come and finally end his pain. That was right up there with losing Romeo to a snake bite when we were hemmed in by fires and couldn't do a thing. You found Karuna quite quickly so I think there's a good chance his end was quick and that he didn't suffer. Hang in there RWM, the sun will get a little brighter each day and your other babies still need you.

[RedwoodsMama]

Thanks everyone for the condolences and understanding. One of the best things for me is to just be able to talk about how I feel. It has been two weeks plus now, and one of the hardest parts is everynight walking past where I found him, just kills me. I can't get that picture out of my head..Everynight while going to feed my "strays" there is where I found him.  :(It doesn't help either that it is almost always the same time every night when I go to feed, and it is the time I found my Karuna. .
         My friend is the one who gave him to me, or adopted him, and I can still hear her screaming on the phone when I told her the next day. She has his beautiful photos at her office on the wall, and she felt like his second mommy. I feel guilty that I was "comforting her" because her 21 year old cat, Simon who I feed twice a day was sick at that moment when she called me, (He has kidney disease which he is doing fine with , but has Pancreatitis and gets sick if too much fat is in his diet, he gets very ill and this is what happened that night...) I know if I had not been on the phone with her for twenty minutes I probably would have seen him and chased him back in the yard, house and he would have at least not got killed that night. 
             I love Simon and he loves me, he is a very sweet cat and I have been taking care of him since 2007, but I can't understand why my Kauna who was just a baby of one year had to die and Simon who is 21, going on 22 now. ( Turned 21 in Sept. 2013) just keeps going on and one despite many health problems and scares, he is like the energizer bunny. It just seems so unfair. I know there are no "rules" in how things like this happen, but I can't help but feel guilty for being on the phone when my Karuna needed me the most and I was not there for him.

             I am grateful that I was not there to see him actually get hit, I could not endure that. People may wonder who know me why I do not drive and never will. I have personally seen at least four cats get hit by cars where I could do nothing but watch in terror and the thought of myself causing the needless death or injury and suffering of another being or worse a person is more then I could handle. I know in time things are supposed to get better, but I can't right now see how. I have lost two cats Last June 2013, One in this February and now Karuna on May 2'nd, and that is four in TEN MONTHS Time! It seems like everytime I get close to a cat, something happens. I have seven left and my husband wants to get another kitten and I am scared to death of what will happen. 

            I don't think I can feel totally safe for my cats anymore. I can't protect them the way I want to, and it is killing me inside. I am so sorry IMR that your poor baby had to wait almost four hours to have his suffering end. That is terrible and I would have gone crazy watching him suffer like that. It seems so unfair that animals have to go through such pain. I beleive in reincarnation and my hubby has seen one cat he loved who reincarnated into our Lei Lu who died at 15  1/2 from fluid in the lungs. If I were to get a kitten again, I would want to wait to see if it were Karuna again or perhaps even my Karl Kat, but seeing them have to go through more pain would be too much.

    If having Karuna get killed two weeks ago was not bad enough, my friend who has the cat Simon who is 21, also has thirteen other cats. She owns her own home and has built a cat habitat. She has two separate areas in the habitat with five cats in one area and three in the other. Then she has five including Simon who live in the house with her. Last Thursday night she called me to say, Bitsy, one of the cats in the habitat that now has five in it was dead. She just found her dead on the floor all twisted out of shape. 

              It appears that she had a stroke and a bad one and died from a massive brain injury. I had just seen her two days earlier. I almost always visit the cats in the habitat when I am there because they are lonely and do not get enough attention.( they get fed twice a day, have litter boxes, fresh water and plenty of room and nice warm beds and are safe, but do not have the companionship they crave..) I saw four of the cats( that day she passed) through the fence while taking care of Simon but did not go in the habitat itself cause I wanted to hurry home after feeding Simon to feed my own Dinta who has been sick............now I feel so bad that I did not go in and see Bitsy, I know she may have died already and if she had been stroking while I was there, as bad as it was, there probably was nothing I could have done. but I still feel guilty that I did not go check on her, just to say hello. She had recently had a gum infection and tooth pulled the month before and as my friend says, {"just wasn't right the same since". I think she had an infection that got to her brain and caused this stroke. What surprised me is that my friend was sad that Bitsy was dead, as any cat , but she was not upset, In fact, I was crying and more upset then her and she was not my cat........am I overly emotional or was it just too much after just losing Karuna.  Just seems like there is death everywhere and it is too much sometimes.

Teddscau , that was a sad but beautiful story about the feral kittens, cats, There are not a lot of people who will take care of feral or semi feral cats, or even strays, let alone take them in. I was so sad to hear about so many dying, but living near a busy street is a death sentence for a cat if not kept indooors. This is why the life of a outside cat is so much shorter then an indoors only cat, there just is not match for a cat against a car or truck. Outdoor cats have so many more disadvantages and the fact that you took care of these kittens is heartwarming, They at least had some time where they got to know the loving touch of a being who cared, fed them, gave them shelter and showered them with love. There is nothing you can do about speeding cars and worse yet, people who have little or no respect for an animal on the road. I honestly believe more people would slow down for a dog if they see it then a cat, raccoon, etc. It is nice to know others care for the strays and less fortunate animals in the world besides myself.

            Thanks for letting me express my feelings. I think this is one reason some people may like Pleos. Pleos can be a "pet" of sorts, though not real,you can still care for Pleo, get attached to them, worry when they are not working properly or if a Pleo rb, they get sick, or injured. But unlike a real live breathing animal, fish, bird or reptile, they don't actually "die" they do not suffer the way a live animal can and this is the real advantage of owning a Pleo. I am not saying that you dont' get upset or grieve the "loss" of a pleo if broken, but not like a living beings. If your Pleo was left in the driveway for example by a child and the parent did not see it and backed over it, breaking it, the child would cry and be upset, but it is not like watching a dog or cat die in the same way. The pleo could be fixed or replaced and things could return the normal pretty much. Once you lose an animal what ever the species, the memory will always be with you and they are a part of you even many years later. I am hoping and praying that someday my Karl Kat, Aiffa, Lei- Lu, Paco, Karuna and all the other lovely fur babies I have known will be with me again, in a happier state of mind and I can talk about them happily instead of with tears.

[Miqguel]

Poor kitties, this made me cry  . You're right Mama, a pleo and a living thing are totally different, like two weeks ago my bird Koki escaped from her cage and now I continue without knowing something of her after putting some posters of her on the streetlights and going to all my near pet stores, but noting. I hope that a nice person find her. And I also think that  we'll throw away our pleos if we can return with us our living pets that are the pets that we really love  . I hope that you and your cats will be good again, camon you can do it, only need to be positive and believe that you are gonna achieve it, good luck.

[fancyfont]

There isn't any way to replace a beloved pet, but a new one, definitely, will take a lot of hurt away. RWM, I think you need a healthy little kitten to ease some of your heartbreak. A cat will be a cat if they get one little chance to get out and over a fence. Perhaps IMR can give you ideas for a cat enclosure to keep all your cats safe.

[Piggy]

It is just so sad to lose your beloved cat  , it is always very difficult pets are members of your family you just can't miss them. sending Lot's of hugs your way 

[V]

I myself have 7 cats now, but some of them passed away before...
i know it must have been a hard time for you 
just want to send you my blessings!

Hang in there!

[RedwoodsMama]

Hi V, thank you for the kind thoughts. Today is my birthday, which makes it esp hard. This time last year, (2013) I was fighting to keep my favorite cat, Karl Kat alive as he was gravely ill. He had been a rescue cat, a big beautiful brown and white tabby boy that I rescued near death in 2009. He was very tame but someone had deserted him, left him on his own and he was very sick when I found him with a huge abcess on his lower jaw and neck with a gaping hole and almost impossible to eat. 

            He was so sweet and I used my friend's garage to let him heal as he was taken to the vet and his abcess repaired. He was a skinny 7 lbs. After his abcess healed, which was very slow, he was neutered and then I decided to take him home and adopt him, My friend just wanted to dump him back into the alley to fend for himself, which I thought was shameful, he would only get sicker .. I adopted him and my other seven cats took to him as well as my dog who loves cats. It was then I discoverd his painful mouth was due to a severe mouth condition called Stomatitis... He had to have most of his teeth pulled and got steroid shots to deal with the pain and to try and make his mouth tolerable. It is a long story, but eventually the steroids no longer worked and his last four teeth, the canines were pulled, in the summer of 2012, he was near death, but after the last one canine was pulled and a painful recovery, he at long last looked and felt Normal.
       We adopted another little kitten, Fuzi, a tortie to replace the tortie who was my husband's favorite and at 15 1/2 had to be euthanized due to fluid in the lungs and kidney disease.(Oct. 2012) Karl Kat acted as a surrogate mom to this kitten cleaning and playing and taking care of her. Then last April I took Karl Kat to the vet because he had lost 2-3 lbs in a short time, and had blood work done. The vet gave him a terminal sentence saying he had non regenerative anemia and would die, nothing we could do. I tried everything this time last year but he got weaker and weaker and when he could no longer eat on his own and I assist fed him, I knew the time was approaching I would have to say goodbye to my best friend. Karl Kat was dying on June 12th, 2013 and had to be euthanized, only 7-8 years old at the most. He was my best buddy.
              The little kitten that just died on May 2'nd, Karuna was the kitten that came along about three weeks after Karl Kat died and I adopted him. So my birthday this year is hard, because I have now lost both Karl Kat, Aiffa two weeks after Karl Kat who was between 19-20 and now my Karuna who had just turned 1 year old , three days before being killed...........

                              So birthdays these past two years are hard.........Here is my Karl Kat , first photo when I rescued him you can see how sick he is and his huge abcess. The last two photos show how good he looked before he died.  Thank you for caring about cats, some people are heartless and others like yourself and many on this site, do care and rescue and care for animals, cats, dogs and many more.

More details...

More details...

More details...

                                                                                    RWM 

[Talon]

Wow, Redwoods! I'm so sorry to hear about Karuna. Losing an animal is aweful. I hope things will look up for you through the rest of twenty fourteen.
Talon

[Mini Me Pleo]

I hope you do well with your new little kitten and every thing goes smoothly.  I soon as i saw this post I new I had to read it.  It makes me really sad when I see some one on here not feeling so bright. After all this place is like my 2'd home.
                                                                                                               Best wishes,
                                                                                                               Mini Me Pleo

                                                                                             
                                                                                         

[RedwoodsMama]

That last post, saying" Hope you are enjoying your new kitten," threw me off, cause my Kitten Karuna, was hit by a car and killed on May 2nd, of this year, I have been heart broken since then and I still cry when I think of him, My hubby though wants us to adopt another kitten and I belong to a group on Facebook that has some terriffic people that are my friends and also do cat rescue....................
        About a week ago someone showed me a few little kittens that are in shelters and the first one was great but too feisty!We want one easy to introduce to our Fuzi who is not two yet and the youngest of seven cats that we have. Well a week ago, another friend found the purrfect kitten for me, It is a beautiful little kitten, won't tell you the sex or description, except this kitten is now clear across the United States. more then 3,000 miles away, I live in Extreme Northern California, and this kitten is in the state of Virginia!

              My next question would have been, how in the world could I get this kitten to California without having to go get it, which is impossible? Well, there is a cat volunteer group that transports cats and kittens anywhere in the United States for free, all volunteers! I watched today on Facebook with another kitten going to her furever home from Virginia adopted out to New Hampshire. It is a great program and everyone takes such good care of these cats and kittens, We filled out our adoption application last week and they checked with our vet and we were approved! Now we just have to wait while all the travel details and volunteers are taken care of which I would think is a week or two as it is a long way to California from the East Coast!

           I still miss Karuna and will never get over how he died and he left so young, but I am happy to bring another little kitten into our home and to help our Tortie, Fuzi who was his best friend and has been missing her play buddy so much, I will keep everyone up to date little by little when it gets closer to our Love train bringing our kitten to us!               RWM

[Talon]

Cool! This kitty is coming from my neck of the woods! Virginia is only three hours from me. Congrats!
Talon

[RedwoodsMama]

Hi Talon, yes not far from you! This kitten is 3,056.4 miles away from us or if you were to drive straight through according to Google in today, Sundays' traffic, only 46 hrs , and that is with no delays, or bathroom or eating breaks.. We are figuring about 3 days to get it to us, mayby 4. These people even have what is called, Bed and breakfast stops where the kitten will get to stop en route and spend the night out of it's  crate and eat and take a break. People volunteer their homes so the cat can have a place to rest. How cool is that.

           This group is called the URRKN, which stands for Underground Railroad Kitty Network, it is run strictly on donations and people volunteer to drive a "leg" of the route which can be anywhere from 50 miles to 100 or more. Each cat has a crate, (large, ) a kitty hammock for them to sleep on, a litter box, food, toys, blanket and water. I would not have been able to get this kitty without this group. In fact till about two weeks ago, I did not even know of them. On Monday the person who told me about this kitten and has been working on getting me this kitten , is going to pull this kitten from the shelter they are at and foster it till the transport can be arranged. Her name is Sharon and she works at a hospital as an X ray Cat scan tech, and already has one other foster a little black baby named Nuka and three cats of her own.

                  Last month two other cats came all the way to Ca, and they flew all the way to LA! I think the people who were adopting him may have wanted their kittens to get to them faster, not sure of the details. Anyway, I am excited, At some point I still want to get another kitten, one to "remind" me of Karuna with similiar markings or that of Karl Kat, It was so tragic to lose my two favorite cats in less then a year, first Karl Kat who is the best cat I ever owned, the cat who had the strongest bond with me and we loved each other so much, but Karl Kat has four years with me.and was not a kitten when I rescued him, Then Karuna came along while I was still grieving for Karl Kat last July 4th, and had the same name almost, Baby Carl. . it was like a sign it was meant to be. How could I not have taken Baby Carl who was a rescue foster kitten that my friend rescued from another town, about 60 miles away from us. When Karuna died it was so sudden and unexpected, just a double whammy. no explanation. 
                 The saddest thing apart from him getting killed, was that he was the best friend to our youngest cat member of the family, Fuzi our little tortie girl who is not yet two. They were best friends and would run and play chasing each other all day, When Karuna died, Fuzi kept calling for him and has been depressed ever since, she needs a new little friend, and this kitten is first and foremost to help her, but of course we can't help but love it as we do all of our animals, It is so cute too!       Will post more details and photos in next week. Thanks Talon and sorry we don't live closer so we could visit as welll Hope Teddy is doing fine.. I know you love that little guy!               RWM  and the Pleo township of the Redwoods