Back from Califur just in time to take my cat to the vet and get the bad news. He'd been listless and wasn't eating much the last couple weeks. Possibly blocked up. Also seemed to be coughing/choking a lot and was unsteady walking last night when I got home. I noticed he was way underweight putting him into the carrier this morning.
The vet said his heartbeat was highly irregular and his kidneys felt shrunken. He was also laboring to breath. Any treatment options would have only lead to a drawn out lifetime of suffering for him. He was purring as the sedative was injected and now lies buried beneath the orange tree out back near his mother and a long line of other cats who's presence has graced this house.
The other cats in the neighborhood will have to take up the slack on vermin patrol. He hadn't hunted much the last couple years but did bring back both a rat and a mouse on back to back days a little over a month ago.
So for the first time in a long long while I am catless. I suspect it will remain so for the foreseeable future.
Rest in peace George.
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