Raven’s RV
The ongoing education and adventures of two rank newbie RVers

Jul 7, 2008

Goodbye, sweet JR

Filed in Blog, Cats

A member of our RVing team passed away this morning.

In 1998, we found Gracie through a San Jose non-profit who looked after a feral colony. Gracie was an abandoned apartment cat, we fell in love, and thus we had our first cat.

A couple of months later, we decided to get a second cat. The feral rescuer asked if we could possibly come and see “Junior”, a two-year-old orange tabby whom she’d brought indoors thanks to a bad bite on his tail. When we first met, he had a bald (shaved) butt, looked embarrassed, and was also pretty wild–though he’d been around humans since he was a kitten. We got acquainted, and decided to give it a shot, even though we’d been looking for a girl. We petted him mercilessly until he rolled on his back and said, “Okay, I’m tame now.”

For the last ten years, JR has been our boy-cat, our chunk, our big orange kitty. He turned out to be the sweetest, gentlest cat you could ever wish for. He didn’t like anyone else, mind you, but he never deliberately bit or scratched either of us and he had the loudest, most easily accessible purr you could imagine. Sometimes he would purr just for the helluvit. Always an ass-man, his butt would go sky-high at the slightest hint of a scritchie. He was a bit of a klutz, too, and there wasn’t a day that went by when he wouldn’t make us either laugh or go squee at how cute he was being.

Over the weekend, JR became sick with a recurrence of the blockages he suffered when we moved to Lodi. As of this morning, he was in a lot of pain, very weak, and not at all a happy camper. We took him to the vet and got confirmation of what we already knew. He was blocked again, hurting, and going into kidney failure, and it would have been a long, difficult road just to get him to a stage where we knew what the damage was.

It was time. Our sweet prince JR had had enough, and we petted him as a compassionate, kind vet gently and peacefully ended his life. He was twelve years old.

We’re very sad.

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24 Comments, Comment or Ping

beautyredefined (28 comments.)

Oh. Poor JR! :( It’s always sad to see your animal friends when they’re in pain, and sadder yet when you know you have to let them go. ::hug::

Jul 7th, 2008
Rendiru

I’m so sorry.

Jul 7th, 2008
Becky (3 comments.)

I’m so very sorry about JR. You did the compassionate thing for him by letting him go, but I know it’s difficult for you.

Jul 7th, 2008
Lissyvigeen

I am so sorry, WR. Big hugs and a bouquet of golden roses.
love
LV

Jul 7th, 2008
Buffra

I’m so sorry about this. I’m glad he’s at peace.

Jul 7th, 2008
Onyerbike

I’m sure he was very comforted by you being there at the end. Lots of hugs to you.

Jul 7th, 2008
FancyHorse

I’m so sorry, Linda. I know it hurts to lose a furry friend. You did the right thing, but it still hurts. (((((Hugs)))))

Jul 7th, 2008
Paula (2 comments.)

Rest in peace sweet Prince JR. Master Farley, also a large orange purr ball is waiting to play with you.

Big hugs to you and the rest of the RV crew. I’m so very sorry for your terrible loss. Be well.

Jul 7th, 2008
shendoah (1 comments.)

I’m so sorry Linda. Hugs to you all.

Jul 7th, 2008
katster (12 comments.)

oh man.

*hugs*

Jul 7th, 2008
Mary (6 comments.)

I’m so glad you were there for JR when he needed you today. I’m sorry he’s gone.

Jul 7th, 2008
mojosmom

Oh, I’m so sorry! I know how hard this is.

{{{{{hugs}}}}} from me, and ~~~~~headbumps~~~~~ from Lilith and Marissa.

Jul 8th, 2008
Linda R. Moore

Thank you :)

Aug 2nd, 2008
Linda R. Moore

Thanks, Rendiru :)

Aug 2nd, 2008
Linda R. Moore

Thanks Becky. It’s amazing how they worm their way into your heart. :)

Aug 2nd, 2008
Linda R. Moore

Thank you LV :)

Aug 2nd, 2008
Linda R. Moore

Thank you Buffra :)

Aug 2nd, 2008
Linda R. Moore

I’m still glad we were there with him instead of leaving him to possibly die alone at the vet’s office. Thanks, Onyerbike. :)

Aug 2nd, 2008
Linda R. Moore

Thanks, Fancyhorse :)

Aug 2nd, 2008
Linda R. Moore

That’s a really comforting thought, actually :)

Hee-your avatar makes me smile every time I see it.

Aug 2nd, 2008
Linda R. Moore

Thanks Shen :)

Aug 2nd, 2008
Linda R. Moore

Yeah, that’s about right.

Thanks :)

Aug 2nd, 2008
Linda R. Moore

Thanks Mary. :)

Aug 2nd, 2008
Linda R. Moore

Thanks MJM. And the cats. :)

Aug 2nd, 2008