Doing the Right Thing is sometimes hard

I remember my Mother once telling me that doing the right thing wasn't that hard if you thought about it long enough.

Most of the time, this is true. Today is an exception.

I have written before (and his picture is at the bottom of the page) about Pete, the happy dog. When he arrived, we already had a four-legged resident -- Polar Bear, a cat we had rescued. He was about 5 when we got him. He performed the usual cat functions -- wandering the house, sitting in the window staring at the world, sitting on your lap asking to be petted. He never played with toys much and would make quite a racket asking to be fed in the morning.

But he was a good cat who went in his litter and he got along very well with Pete.

However, as I recently noted, he had been having some problems lately. When he peed on a new capret a couple of weeks ago, it was very bad sign. We tried some more solutions -- another test for kidney functions and a light in a room where he spends a lot of time.

But the simple fact is that when a cat begins to pee in places other than his litter box (which has been fine for him for the past eight years), there is a real problem. The final straw came this morning when Lynne got up to make his breakfast in the kitchen. While waiting for that, Polar Bear peed on the floor. He has never done that before.

Thus, the decision was made. We called the vet and asked them to take him for the weekend. We'll talk to his vet when she comes in on Monday but I am fairly sure what the decision will be.

Lynne took him outside and let him run around in the backyard for a bit. Then, we crated him up and took him away.

I feel bad about this but I can honestly say we did all we could. It just didn't seem to pay for more test when we know he is having slow kidney failure. Unlike when my sister-in-law had to put her cat down a few months ago, Polar Bear doesn't appear to be in pain. But if he doesn't know the difference between his litter and the kitchen floor (or doesn't care), then I can't see there is much choice to be made here.

Cats are different pets than dogs. We tend to bond more with dogs because we take them on walks and play with them in the front yard. By their nature, cats are frequently more aloof and mysterious. They keep their feelings to themselves and make it harder for you to love them. To me, that is one of their allures.

On Monday, I suspect we will be in agreement that Polar Bear needs to be put down. And I admit it will create a void in the household. Doing the right thing is sometimes painful. In this case, it isn't easy. But it's still the right thing to do.