Tuesday, December 2, 2008

junior

Topping the most disturbing news of the day is the sad, sad, sad traumatic end to one of our family pets.

Today I was backing out of the garage to take 3 of our kids to the library. Donovan was working in our home office and Jack was staying home with him. As I backed up I thought I hit a chunk of ice. Turns out it was Junior, our cat.



How utterly sad. The 4 of us in the car, sat watching in horror as the cat leapt 3 feet in the air and then fell to the ground repeatedly, squirting blood all over the place. He did this for about 45 seconds and then lay dead, eyes bulging out of his head.
I could have thrown up. Isabella was crying her heart out. William was wondering & said out loud, "Mom why is Junior scratching himself?" Ughhhhh....William, the cat is having convulsions & suffering from head trauma. I felt utterly sick to my stomach. How very, very sad. I have never run over anything, much less killed.
I went to get Donovan in the basement, he came to do my dirty work. He told me to get the kids out of there, so that's what I did. I continued on our trip to the library. I held Isabella's hand and tried to console her. After being so very sorry for her loss, telling her how sad I also am....She finally looked at me with tears running down her cheeks and said, "Mom, can we please not talk about it anymore?"
Geesh, I never even liked cats 1 year ago. Unless they were baby kittens.
And now I feel loss tonight. Mostly for my children who keep remembering their beloved cat named Junior. Jack has said 2 times now, "Everytime I think about Junior I just want to cry."
Thankfully we still have one cat left. Missy.




11 comments:

RosyRose said...

Oh Heather, I am so sorry!
We had the exact same thing happen to our cat about 5 years ago! We were backing out for church. Jason and I saw the cat doing what appeared to be the gymnastic moves the kids had taught her that week but no, no she was clearly not well!
As I started to ask what she was doing Jason hushed me very quickly. He Shut the garage door with our non observant children quietly singing sunday school songs in the back.:0
When we got home he parked the van outside went around to the back and cleaned up the mess.....YUCK!
The children were sad but we told them we'ld get another one that afternoon. It helped with the grieving process! They still remember that cat who met her untimely death in the garage!

cheryl said...

I have a few similar stories I could tell. Not as the momma, but the kid who lost the pet or the one that did the inadvertant causing of the early demise. It's no fun. Sorry-o!

Kim said...

That's terrible.. I am so sorry! I have hit an animal one time, and I still curl my toes every time one runs out in front of me. It is an awful feeling, so I can't imagine how you felt with your own cat! Tell the kiddos we are so sorry for them.

Jenn said...

Oh Heather, How awful!!

I'm so sorry this happened. I had 2 cats growing up that I loved so much. I can totally relate to Isabella's pain, except that I didn't have to watch them die. Ugh, poor kids (and mommy too).

Beth said...

Oh how utterly AWEFUL!!! I once ran over a cat and had to witness the spectactle that was involved. At least I was alone, no kids in the picture, other than the one in my tummy. And I am a cat lover! I bawled all the way home! Sorry for the loss of a pet, it's tramatic for a child and for you that it even had to happen.

Stacey said...

Heather I am so sorry! I have tears just thinking about the pain you felt in your heart over this. It stinks when we can't take the pain away from our kiddos. I am thinking of you guys.

sherri said...

Heather,
So sorry to hear about the loss of your family pet. Two summers ago, Kevin had to put our dog to sleep...the one he bought for me for my very first mother's day after we were married. It was a very sad day. It doesn't take long to get attached.

Cindy said...

In my years of growing up and now my parenting years, I can't even count how many animals went to the big blue beyond. The latest tragedy took our beloved dog Odie, about two years ago, and i confess, I had tears along with the youngest two!

That's the worst part of having pets ... except of course the flushable gold fish! :)

Anonymous said...

The best way to get over it is to just get another one to replace the one you lost! At our other place we had a little pet cemetery out the back! We just had too many vehicles coming & going!!!! Kids are very forgiving and granted it was a family pet, but pets can eventually be replaced with another pet! You painted a pretty good picture of the agony! It must have been tearing your heart out with the kids watching too!
We used to have sooo many cats at our other house and sometimes they would just mysteriously disappear and the girls would just accept the fact that they just wandered away for some reason....they've just been finding out recently what really happened to some of the little 'wild' cats.
I'm bored with my blog too, Heather! I've been gone and also under the weather! I'm much better now! Needless to say, I don't think I'm going to get a flu shot next year, cause I've had more issues this year WITH a flu shot than when I didn't get a shot!

Anonymous said...

HOW SAD! I feel so bad for the kids! How traumatizing! Those poor little kids that had to see that!

Carrie said...

Oh Heather, I'm so sorry about your cat!!! I am a total cat lover, but we can't have them now since Tim is allergic to them. :( One time when I was young, I was running out to our utility room where we had young kittens, and I accidentally STEPPED on one. It was so horrible and I was so traumatized. :( :( So it had to have been so gory and traumatic...