The Saga of Fat Blackie
Today we lost a friend, a cat who wasn't even ours, but his life, and especially what he did on his last day, amazed me to the point that I feel that I must tell this tale. If only to honor his memory with folks here, many of whom I know feel about animals as I do.
We live in an old neighborhood, heavily wooded. There is a high concentration of rental property, and people leave cats behind on a regular basis when they move away. So needless to say, the free cat community is a fairly thriving one here. I view them as neighbors, just like the bipeds.
Several of them are black toms. The biggest of the bunch was one we came to call Fat Blackie, a simple and descriptive tag. He would visit us on a regular basis. Most stray cats here have an instinctive fear of humans, they were born on the street. Not this guy. We treated each visit as one from a friend who didn't come around near often enough.
In short, I went out on the porch today to check the mail and saw him snoozing on the blanket we leave on the porch for him. I leaned down to greet him with a scratch behind the ear and saw that he had clearly been struck by a moving vehicle. I won't go into details but suffice it to say I was amazed he was able to get to our porch in the first place. I summoned the girlfriend and we did our best to make him comfortable. As she gently tried to clean his head with a warm towel, he began to purr. Near smashed to death and this guy was purring!
We rushed him to the vet. Among his numerous injuries was a broken leg. It was a clear but hard choice, and we had the doctor put him to sleep.
It took a while for this to sink in. Somewhere in our neighborhood, Fat Blackie is struck by a car. With a broken leg and impaired vision, he finds his way to our porch, and then has the stones to purr when we tend to him. I am still shaking as I type this.
Simply amazing. God speed Fat Blackie.
Egg Shen: Lo Pan is down there.
Jack Burton: Down where?
Egg Shen: Where is the universe?
That's a sad but touching story.
Fedaykin98 wrote:
Amazing creatures aren't they?
Feel good that he considered you "home".
He obviously cared and respected you guys enough to seek you and your abode out when in need.
Farewell, cat.
:/
Of - power - insessantly
Plagued - by - malefisense
Doomed - to - insidious -
Death - is - he - who - breaks
this - monument - i - prophesy
I'm so sorry for your loss. At least he wasn't alone during his passing, and got some form of comfort.
You should feel honored that he thought of you as his safe haven. It says good things about you and your girlfriend, Heretk. You did the right and kind thing for your friend, and eased his pain. I'm sorry you won't have him to visit anymore, but I'm glad you were there when he needed you.
Returning violence for violence multiplies violence, adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars. Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that.
- Dr. Martin Luther King
I'm really sorry to hear about that man. But as other have more eloquently put it, he clearly placed high value on your home and on your both if he chose to come there for his last moments. I'm glad you got to say goodbye to him at least and that you were able to make him feel cared for.
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Aww
That's a really touching story.
Elysium wrote:
Danjo wrote:
What a sad, sweet story Heretk.
Our are never going outside, no matter how much our own morbidly obese black cat whines about it. Cars and cats just don't mix.
Neither do mine. I leave the door open with the screen door shut occasionally, but that's as close to outside as I'd like them. Thankfully two of them are absolutely terrified of being outside, so I don't have to worry about them... it's just the youngest one that likes to dart out the door.
BTW, cats purr not only when they're being sociable/loving, but also when they're extremely anxious, or very badly hurt. That's not to say you shouldn't be touched. It's simply their way of trying to connect to you for support with what they're going through.
It's rough putting an animal down. Sorry to hear it had to go that route.
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Thanks to all for the kind words.
Fat Blackie, like others we have encountered over the years in this neighborhood, was a good soul. We have cats of our own and they never go outside, despite their protests. It's a hard thing, but we already have multiple critters. If we adopted every stray we encountered, I would have dozens upon dozens of them in the house, which is neither physically nor financially possible.
We have had luck in the past placing some in good homes, but lately have run out of people we know that are open to adoption. In the one case we went through a newspaper ad, giving two kittens away to a couple in the area. We called a week later to see how they were doing and learned that they had both been killed by the couple's dog. Swore to never go down that road again.
Egg Shen: Lo Pan is down there.
Jack Burton: Down where?
Egg Shen: Where is the universe?
My grandmother used to feed the strays all the time. She always said it was just to keep the mice and rat population down on the farm, but I didn't believe her because she would always watch them drink and eat. They would even let us play with the kittens. I'm truly sorry to hear about Fat Blackie, and bless you for looking after strays.
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I love animals, it's always sad to hear a story like this, but it also makes me happy to know that one of them had their passing eased with the company of good people.
I know that someday my little dudes (two very awesome and sweet cats) will reach the end, and honestly, with as much as they love to sit in my lap and be held, I hope that each of them can be held by me as they pass into the next realm. I want to be there to say goodbye to them and wish them well, as sappy as that may sound.
And no, I don't let them outside. Too dangerous out there for kitty cats, especially in urban areas.
Rock Band Name Generator!... too funny to merely be coincidence.
"Truly, this mishap has set back the swamp sciences several years." - H.P. Lovesauce, lamenting a tragedy.
The trust of animals can break your heart.
Your silence will not save you.
-Audre Lorde