Saturday, November 14, 2009

Toby

This is Toby. He was our cat for 12 years, until about a half hour ago. You see, I just had him put to sleep, for no other reason than he was peeing all over the house.
Right now, I feel like crap. I feel like I made a HUGE mistake. He didn't deserve that. Everyone told me that euthanizing him would be the most humane thing to do. That was the least humane thing that I have ever done. I took him to our local SPCA and that place felt like animal hell to me. There were dogs barking, cats meowing, people cussing, just complete chaos. I hated that place.
I found Toby when he was just a kitten. He was one of a litter of four that was living in our condo garage. I was able to capture one of his brothers and they both became our pets. We named him Toby because he was fascinated with feet. The only way that he would let us touch him, is if we allowed him to rub against our toes. He could do this and purr for hours.
One day, my wife and I decided to get the boys some collars. We put them on and immediately Toby fell to the floor. It was hilarious because he would fall to the side in a completely locked up standing position. He would lay on the floor in that position as if he was paralyzed. I would take the collar off, and he would spring to life as if nothing ever happened.
Toby used to love chasing beams of light up walls. I could shine a flash light and he would follow the reflecting spot every where. He could jump higher than the other cats which also was an advantage to him for chasing things.
Toby sat on my lap and purred the whole way to the SPCA. When I got there, I put him in a cage and took him in. They charged me $45 and gave him a shot. And that was it. I really loved Toby and regret what I just did. From now on, our pets will die of natural causes, no matter what kind of nuisances they are.
I hope that God will forgive me of the choice that I made today. My advice to anyone considering having a pet is that, they are animals. In spite of all of their flaws, it is easy to fall in love with them and it hurts when they are gone.

Rest in peace Toby. I'm sorry!

2 comments:

DanThoms said...

Strange as it may sound I had this same conversation with a stranger in line at Walmart. She had just done the same thing as you for the same reasons and was feeling the same way that you are. And even though we aren't in line at a Walmart I'll tell you the same thing that I told her. It's ok. I don't think you did a terrible thing. Sometimes you have to do what you have to do even if it makes your feel terrible.

Nick Calcara said...

Thank you brother Dan.