It's with mixed emotions that I make tonight's post. We had our cat, "Orangie", put to sleep today. He'd been living with diabetes for the last 9 months and his physical condition had been slowly declining. We gave him shots twice a day to try and control it, but feline diabetes is hard on them. His back legs were losing strength and he had a difficult time walking on non-carpeted floors. All he wanted to do the last week was hide under our bed. He would use the cat box when no one was around and then head for cover again.
We met Orangie shortly after we moved to Prescott, WI. We started seeing him in our backyard in March or April of 2005. He'd come around with another, much younger, stray that we'd later take in and name, "Sticky". The two of them were best buddies and they were always together. Sticky was a neutered and box trained cat that had probably been kicked out and left to fend for himself by some less than wonderful owner. Sticky warmed up to us right away and once he came inside that spring he found our home to his liking and never left...
Orangie however, was a bit more reluctant to come join our family. He'd had a tough life and we suspected that he was a 2 or 3 year old, semi-feral, farm cat from the other side of the ravine in our backyard. He was very skittish at first and would run when he saw us. It took a long time for him to let us approach him. He'd hang out in the back yard and we'd feed him while Sticky watched...
One of the first times he came into our house, we noticed that one of his front paws was swollen and red. When we called the Vet they told us to bring him in, and we just laughed to ourselves. We managed to capture him in a cardboard box and duct taped it shut to make the trip. By the time we got to the Vet's office, he had clawed a hole in the side of the box and when he put his paw out of the hole, he appeared to be giving everyone the finger. When we explained to the Vet that Orangie was a stray he neutered him for free. They also fixed up his broken and infected paw. At one point during his visit, Orangie broke free in the Vet's office... They later referred to him as "Satan in a Box".
It wasn't until the coldest part of the winter of 2006-2007 that Orangie finally gave in and became a house cat. I had done everything I could to help him get through that winter. I made him a heated shelter out of a plastic storage tub, 2" foam insulation, a down filled throw, and a kennel heater. I placed the box on a table that was under the second floor porch. It was well protected and out of the wind. He'd come inside, but only for short periods and would insist on going back out to spend the night in his box. Until frostbite got his ears...
This looks way worse than it was... He recovered but his ears were a little disfigured.
After the frostbite, he wanted nothing to do with going outside in cold weather. He and Sticky would still go out in the summer and hunt in the woods behind our home..
When we moved up to Cable, we brought all our cats with us. By then we had 6 rescues... Sticky, Orangie, Vinnie (The Thug), Screamer, Rudy, and LBK (little boy kitty).
Since moving here, we've lost 3 cats. Vinnie (The Thug) who passed away unexpectedly in Nancy's arms in August of 2012, LBK in June of 2013, and now Orangie.
It was a hard decision to make. I absolutely hate feeling like Judge, Jury, and Executioner, but I know I did the best for him. Even the Vet said that we did more for him than most people would have. Dr. Sammi did an excellent job. She fitted Orangie with an IV port, and when it was time he passed very peacefully with no apparent pain, physical reactions or stress...
Thank you North Star Veterinary Clinic..
Goodbye my buddy..... Rest in peace...
Sticky and his best bud, Orangie...
My favorite Orangie story...
When we lived in Prescott, WI, Orangie was an indoor/outdoor cat. The last few years we were there he had an unusual behavior. Every August, I would take off on the motorcycle for a week or so, and head to Sturgis, SD. Nancy would let Orangie outside after I left and he would disappear for the entire time I was gone. She would call out for him several times a day but he'd never return. Every time this happened, Nancy would think that he was gone for good... But, like clock work, I'd come back home from my trip in the evening and without fail the next morning Orangie would be outside waiting at the patio door... I'd like to think there was a spiritual connection between the two of us but, knowing Orangie, I'd bet he was never far away and would hear me come home or could see me in the house. He was always excited to greet me!
Once we moved up here, the cats were no longer allowed outside. There are way too many dangerous critters in these woods...
