Goodbye to my Baby

In 2005, I adopted two adorable kitties - Gigi and Mousse. They were about a year old when they came home with me and have always been a bit skittish - Mousse more than Gigi. This past Friday, I had Mousse put down. It was an awful decision to have to make and I am heartbroken. Over the years, Mousse had become increasingly aggressive. He used to play with Gigi, chasing her around the apartment, playfully swatting her. But as they've both aged, what he may thought of as playing was definitely not fun for Gigi. She'd frantically run away from him and I worried he'd either hurt her directly or indirectly as she tried to get away. He'd also grown increasingly aggressive towards everyone but me. All my boyfriend would have to do is glance over at Mousse and he'd be rewarded with a hiss or a growl. When Mousse had to pay a visit to the vet, everyone on staff had to be on alert because he would lash out at them. He had surgery a couple of months ago to have some (more) teeth pulled and when I picked him up, the vet tech gave me an account of their entire day together, including showing me the scratches he'd given her. Even while he was still waking up from the medicine, you could hear him growling and hissing from the other room. His cage had to be labeled "Dangerous!" every time he went to the vet and was known as "the cat".

Last weekend, Mousse went after Shadow and scratched her. Nothing too serious, but as easily as he'd scratched her nose, he could have gotten her eye or mouth. And not only did Mousse grow aggressive when Shadow went towards him, he would charge her without warning. We'd tried everything we could think of to modify his behavior, but I truly feel he had an aggressive personality. Most times, we would shut him in the bedroom with his own litter box and food/water bowls. He'd cry and cry to be let out, but we just couldn't trust him. And anyone who has owned cats knows how fast they can move. One minute he'd be snoozing in the sun and the next he'd be across the room going after Shadow or Gigi. I also think he was in a great deal of pain because of his teeth.

After discussing the options with the vet and countless hours of soul searching, we decided that our most humane option was to put him down. Adopting him out or giving him to a shelter just wasn't an option. I couldn't in good conscience give him to someone else without knowing how he would behave. My vet will never come out and say that he thinks we should put an animal down, but he was very supportive and I think he agreed it was really the only thing to be done.



I will miss that little furball so much.