Loss of My Co-Pilot

     I really wanted to talk about my physical therapy appointment from today, but maybe later, I wanted to talk about the loss of my Co-Pilot.  So this past week or so has been pretty tough for me.  Those of you that read my blog regularly know that I was kind of depressed with the speed bump my recovery took.  I was just starting to get over that when the "hard choice" had to be made last Wednesday.  My cat, Harley, aka kitty, had been having eye and ear issues, so Mandy called and set an appointment at the vet for him.  He was almost 16 years old and really starting to show his age, but I never thought the day was going to go the way it did. 

     So before I go on, here is a little back story.  In 2000 I was living in Dayton, Ohio going to school for commercial photography and really wanted a pet.  My roommate at the time had two cats that I got along with pretty well, but I thought it would be hard to bring a dog into that situation.  I was planning on moving out when my lease was up and getting a place of my own and I didn't want to pay the extra fees they tack on to your rent if you have a pet and I thought I couldn't hide a dog very easily from the landlord, but maybe I could a cat.  While I was out one day I stopped into the pet store I would go to when I had my freshwater aquarium to look around, when I came across a bunch of kittens.  There was one in the bunch that responded to me being there, so I asked to hold him and he immediately curled up in my arms and started purring.  I never really was a cat guy and I never owned one, but living with the two my roommate had I grew fond of them and I thought getting my own cat would be fine to have while I was still living with my roommate.  I also thought, several of my friends in school had cats of their own and they were able to hide theirs from their landlords so I said what the hell and purchased him.

     He was your typical American domestic short haired cat with jet black fur and yellow eyes except for his left eye that had a small dark spot in it.  I took him to the vet the next day and despite his size at the time, the vet took one look at his paws and said he was going to be a big cat when he grows up, and boy did he ever.  Mandy and I use to joke because he weighed almost as much as our two chihuahuas combined.  He was the perfect companion for me, being just enough of an independent soul that he could cope with my long hours of my school schedule.

One funny story from those days was when he was a model for Elder Beerman Department Store.  Yeah you read that right, you see while I was going to school I did an internship in their photo department, where all the catalog and Sunday ads were produced.  The local humane society was to bring animals by for a photo shoot with some kids, but they never showed up.  I volunteered Harley for the job and a couple weeks later he was a famous model in the Sunday ads.

     The other story that I love to tell about him is about the night in my apartment when he sat and watched TV.  I was laying on the couch and he was laying on my side as I flipped through the stations.  Nothing was on that I cared to watch and I ended up just leaving it on some nature show on wolves.  After a few minutes Harley jumped down and sat a couple feet from the TV watching so intently, occasionally getting up on his hind legs and pawing at the TV screen and doing that thing when animals turn their heads to the side as if they are saying "huh, what is that".  When the commercials came on he would lose interest and roam around the room, but as soon as the show came back on he was right back sitting in front, watching.  This went on till the program was over and when I look back now on his almost 17 years with me, that was the only time I can remember him ever doing something like that.

     So back to last week.  I knew something was wrong the moment they weighed him; he had dropped a good 10 pounds since the last time I weighed him, and for some reason I still didn't think it was going to end the way it did.  The vet came in and did her exam and before you knew it, cancer came out of her mouth.  She pointed out that his thyroids were huge for a cat and was making it difficult for him to swallow.  I guess I never noticed, its not like they were protruding out so far, you had to know what you were feeling for to know there was an issue.  After she gave me all the options, she allowed me to decide the course of action while she spent 10 minutes with another patient.  I called Mandy and spoke with her about it.  Basically my choices came down to 1: spend a ton of money to absolutely confirm cancer and have him put down, 2: take him home and wait till he can no longer eat or drink or 3: put him down now.  I ran through my options and at the end of it, both one and two seemed pointless.  Either way she said with a large as his thyroids were there was little she could do and I thought it would be selfish for me to take him home and let him suffer just so I can have a few more days or weeks with him.  After a lot of cuddling and crying I made the decision to give him peace.

Our last minutes together

     I'll miss the cuddle time on the couch, the instant purring when I would walk in the room and a friend who was always there for me when I needed him.

Love you Harley

I had him cremated so I will have him wherever life takes me

The Loss & The Heartbreak

 You left my life,

But you will never leave my heart!

     It is a sad time in the Running In The Fat Lane household.  We were faced with the decision that no parent of a furry four legged child ever want to have to make.  I know this blog is geared toward my running and weight loss journey, but sometimes life throws you a curve ball that really can affect you.  I thought this would be a nice way to remember our little Stinka and give you all a little window into the family side of my life.

     Back on Valentine's Day of 2003 I asked Mandy to marry me, obviously she said yes, but that was the genesis to where Stinka would eventually enter our lives.  At this point we were not living together and we had decided to have our wedding in June of 2004, so we were trying to decide between renting our buying a home.  At this time the rates were pretty good and it made a lot more sense to buy, so we started looking for our home.  One day we were out shopping and stopped into a Petland store to look around and play with the puppies.  Now I know what your thinking, a fucking pet store, but when we saw Stinka we fell in love with him.  We were young, stupid and didn't know any better, but even those poor dogs deserve loving homes too.  Anyway, we bought him and Hemi became part of our lives.

     To explain the name thing, we originally named him Hemi and stuck with it for a while.  He was trained on it and all his vet papers and his original ID tag had that name.  Well as time went on Hemi became pretty known for; well his stinky farts!!  We were constantly commenting on how bad they were.  Mandy and her family are known for giving their pets all kinds of little nicknames, and one night Mandy called him Stinka.  Over time we were using Stinka more and more and Hemi less and less.  Before we new it, Hemi was a lost cause and Stinka would forever be his name.

     

     In October of 2003 Stinka, Harley (my black domestic short hair cat), Mandy and I moved into our new home.  It wasn't long after that that we felt like Stinka needed a friend and we brought Chopper, who through the same nickname process is now named Mr. Widdle, into our home.  The next 11 years Stinka has been nothing short of pure joy in our lives.  Dogs always seem to know when you need a pick me up and Stinka was always there to give us kisses, I mean A LOT OF KISSES, even when we didn't want any.  Stinka sure didn't like other people a whole hell of a lot, but he did love other dogs.  He would always wanna play with the neighbor dog and bark at every little noise he heard outside, which annoyed the shit out of Mandy and me, but today I miss it terribly.

     I am not going to get into the details of what led us to this decision because frankly it doesn't fucking matter.  It is a hard and painful decision and I don't envy anyone who has to do it.  All that matters to us is that we had 11 wonderful years with him and that we were able to give him what all dogs want, a home with parents that love him.  He was our child, our first child and we loved him every day of his little life. 

RIP Stinka

Mommy & Daddy love you and miss you