Toby

I got Toby in December of this past year. A few weeks before Christmas. My girlfriend took me to Petsmart because they had a lot of cats available for adoption. She showed me this one - his name was Peaches at the time. He was the oldest cat there, 5 years according to his paperwork, and he was beautiful. He seemed a little skittish, but lovable all the same.

I ended up getting him on a whim - I couldn't really afford the adoption fee, or the price of keeping up with a cat, but my friend said she'd help. And I'd been wanting a cat. So I brought him home. The first thing he did was climb right into the fireplace to try and hide when we let him out of the box they'd provided for us.

He spent much of the next few days hiding under my bed, only coming out to eat. Eventually though he got braver, and began exploring the apartment. Checking out my roommate's dog, and generally taking the place over.

He loved my bed, he slept their during the day, and then slept their with me at night, claiming my head as his favorite sleeping spot. He was so funny, chasing his tail in ways I'd only ever seen dogs do, and winning over everyone who met him.

Toby was there to comfort me when things with Irch fell apart. He let me hold him too tightly and cry with him. He rubbed against me and purred and lay with me night after night giving me something to hold on to.

A few months later, I had to move. Toby came with me, of course. In my new home there were 2 other cats Toby had to get used to. It was a rough transition. He wasn't used to the other cats and they weren't used to him. Slowly but surely boundaries were established and things appeared to be settling down.

Over the course of the past few months, it looked like Toby began putting on weight, his stomach expanding so he looked pregnant. Recently we noticed he'd stopped eating, and despite the girth around his middle he felt too thin.

We took Toby to the vet this morning, not really sure what the problem was. Thinking it was something small and hopefully easily fixed. The vet of course told us differently, and after a few diagnostic tests we decided on Organ Failure. His Liver most likely, and it was leaking into his abdomen giving him that pregnant look.

He went over the few things we could try to help him, but he told us anything we did would only be temporarily prolonging Toby's life. In the end the prognosis was the same. And so all we needed to decide was if we were going to put him through a few more hard weeks trying to make him stay with us or let him go today while he wasn't hurting.

I've never had to put down an animal before. I stayed with him while the Doctor injected the anesthesia, petted him and stroked his fur, comforting him like he'd done for me so many times, until his heart stopped and his chest stopped rising and falling and he was gone.

I had Toby for less than a year, but he was a good cat, he put up with so much, and I just hope I was able to make his last months good and comfortable. I love him so much, I just didn't want him to hurt.