No one should have
to make these kind of choices about their pet. Quick
rundown on J-Dog for the newbies. Got him in March
1996 at 5 weeks old. My favorite creature for years.
He was with me before I was married to my 1st
wife, through the marriage, through the divorce. He's
lived in 5 different homes with me in Ohio and
California. Through the kindness of my apartment
manager he and Bob were allowed to roam the complex
and I always had them both in at night. On August 5th,
2001 he was stolen and taken somewhere far away.
I say that only because no one could've kept that
cat inside without losing their mind. He's got a set
of lungs on him that makes me jealous as a singer.
LOL. It was the worst thing to have happen to me
though. Not knowing. Was he killed? Was he being
tortured? Was he hungry? Fuckin gnawed at me.
Miraculously 4 1/2 months later on December 19th he
made it back. Since that time he's lived in the
complex rec room and basically lived the dream life.
Everyone here loves him, pets him, hell people even
buy him cat food cause they like him so much. He
always stays within a good radius of the complex and
is most certainly in heaven. That all comes to an end
today.
J-Dog periodically
gets trapped in hallways in the complex. He follows
people in and they don't notice it, and he gets stuck
for hours. Then when someone opens the door he runs
through that door...only to find himself stuck again.
Well he ran into an apartment one of those times,
freaked out, and pissed. Guess who's
apartment...
I don't know
what's funnier...that it was soiree thrower's
apartment, or what he must've been thinking knowing it
was my cat. LOL. They rented a steam cleaner which was
cool, but they also wrote a formal complaint letter
and that unfortunately was it. Game Over. The
apartment manager's supervisor got wind of it and it's
all over. J-Dog must be gone today.
This wouldn't be
so tragic considering the amount of takers there are
for him, but unfortunately he simply cannot be inside.
I don't mean he's unhappy, he's a fucking BEAST. At
vet check ups, we have to pay for an $85 shot just to
calm him down so they can look at him. He goes fuckin'
WILD. He cannot be inside, or in a cage for ANY amount
of time. Because of this, all humane societies,
adopt-a-pet, damn near every "saving cat" places are
out. They would put him down within 2 days. And if
that's his fate, fuck that - I'm gonna be there to
hold him. I don't want him to be alone and crazy as he
goes. I'll take him to the vet and sit there with him
before I let that happen. Oh shit, here come the
tears. GRRRRRRRRR.
The other option
is of course some open farm type setting much like he
has now. Food, and freedom. Gary knows some people
about 6 miles away who feed some stray cats. Dropping
him off there and hoping he sticks around (he pretty
much despises all cats), could work but it's pretty
much throwin' his ass out into the wild exactly like
he was last year at this time. I get to wonder forever
what the hell ever happened to him. Christ, J-Dog will
probably think this is his Annual Challenge - HAHAHA.
"So they put me in a car, drive me miles away, and see
how long until I can get back? Whatever. Stupid
Humans." LOL.
In the long run
however, there's nothing really funny about all this.
This is my last day with J-Dog. I'm pretty furious
really. It all seems so incredibly unfair. My heart
tells me to put him down. That it's torture to take a
cat so loving and drop him off in some strange
neighborhood and hope he makes it. Not only are his
chances slim, but people do really, really bad shit to
animals. So I'm supposed to leave him there and then
think about it for the next 6 months? Years? Do I
really want to go through this again? Am I being
selfish worrying about my feelings when J-Dog would
pretty much vote for...LIVING. Heh. Tough situation to
be in. I won't be able to put him down though. I'll
take the psychological stress and give him the shot of
making it on his own.
It may be a game
time decision though. What's crueler? If he was HUMAN
of course you don't put him down, but is it really OK
to take an animal and drop it off in the middle of
nowhere. I mean there's actual COYOTES out here. LOL.
They eat little DOGS all the time. Yeah these people
will feed him, but he knows where home is. He will try
to make his way back like he did before. Busy streets,
highways. It's like we're setting him up to get
killed. To me that seems cruel. Knowing he's gonna try
to get back. AHHHHH. But putting him down?!?! God this
fucking blows. If only he could at least hang out in a
cage. You know? Not be the tazmanian fucking devil
when in captivity it's feasible we could find him a
perfect situation. But fuck, who am I kidding. I'd
have to take his ass out of state...and it wouldn't
suprise me if he found me in 2004.
I'm just fucking
pissed. Angry as hell. A perfect situation ruined
because J-Dog can't figure out the complex's hallway
system. Ever wish you could have 30 seconds to talk to
your pets? Like they were human. I could tell him all
he needed to know about this place in 30 seconds. He
would just need to understand me for a few moments and
then he could go back to being a cat.
Nothin'
like focussing on reality Adam. Very good.
Oh well, this is life. If this isn't the
most glaring reason why you never, ever,
ever let your cats go outside - I don't
know what is. Once it's in their blood,
it's all over. Goddamn this is going to
break
my
heart.
Here's prayin' for a miracle.
