Goodbye Very Hairy Hairy

 I lost my baby Hairy today.  It was his time.  He came here four years ago.  Someone trapped him in Corvallis, because he was sneaking into their house wanting food.  He was feral, but already had a right ear tip, indicating someone, maybe me, had gotten him fixed at some point in his life.  He was taken to Heartland Humane in Corvallis.  Heartland called me, hoping to find him a safe haven, so he would not have to be euthanized.  So I took Hairy.

He briefly went up to Wilsonville, and was to be placed as a feral, but that did not work out, and I retrieved him.  Here, he thrived, had friends, loved the cat yard and cat runs and, of course, the food.  Hairy loved his vittles.  He was the first to the plate always for wet food and loved cat treats.

Almost a year ago, Hairy began a decline.  He was peeing too much and slowly began to lose weight.  He was still acting feral so I could only give him fluids when I could.  After a vet visit last October, I began serious fluid therapy for him, and he did very well for a long while, although I had to gradually increase the amounts he received.

After that vet visit, Hairy moved inside the house, rather than where he had mostly remained, in the garage cat room and cat yard.  He had decided he'd rather be a total house cat, and also began following me around like a dog, giving a course old fart croaky meow, until I petted him.  Whenever he was awake he followed me and he was just so darn cute in his crusty way. 

Hairy was so hairy with a thick fine undercoat that matted severely I took to clipping him several times a year.  He had allowed this even when "acting" feral.  And it was an act. 

But after the last clipping, last fall, his coat never grew back in.  I knew that was not a good sign either.

Kidney failure results in an inability to regulate stomach acid and often ulcerations in the mouth esophagus, stomach and intestinal tract.  Hairy began to vomit blood.  When it became severe, this last week, along with an inability to give him enough sub cu fluids to keep him hydrated (300 cc a day was not even enough), I knew this was not good.  Today Heartland helped Hairy from his suffering.   They said, looking at his teeth, he was very very old, far older than I had thought.

Hairy, you crotchety crusty old guy, I loved you so.  Glad to have known you.  Glad you graced the cat house here.  Goodbye my friend.  Happy trails.

Hairy with half his haircut one year.  The clip jobs would get tiring, for him and me, and my cheap clippers would heat up so bad they wouldn't work after awhile.  So the clip job usually was a two day affair or more.

Bloody vomit from this morning.