Reece

Our sweet buddy Reece passed away. He had been hiding a lot, mostly in Ruby's room. But I didn't think anything of it because cats generally don't like kids and there's a lot of kids here. I picked him up once about a month or so before and I noticed he was way skinnier but, as Laurie pointed out, he had it to lose. 

So I dragged all the pets to the vet for their yearly check up. For whatever reason, Maggie got Reece in his carrier. It was batshit bananas trying to get Maggie, Ruby, a dog, and two cat carriers inside. As soon as we were in, I let the cats out and the second I touched Reece I knew something was bad wrong. I could feel every bone in his body. 

They came in and weighed him and he weighed 9 pounds (he used to weigh 18!) and LESS than Greenlea. That was shocking. But the doctor didn't feel anything. So she suggested buying fancy cat food and spending the weekend giving him the opportunity to eat that. Which we did. And he didn't take a single bite. 

Monday, I took him back, and the vet did a more robust examination. This time she found a large mass up in his tummy. She said he was almost certainly uncomfortable and treatment would be awful and invasive and probably unsuccessful. So we made an appointment for Wednesday and took him home. 

He took a bite once and Maggie was convinced he was all better. But he threw that back up. I had to just tell Maggie he wasn't getting better and he deserved to not have to suffer. 

On Wednesday, Laurie picked me and Reece up and drove us there. Laurie and I went in with him and I got to love on him through the whole thing. Then Gwen showed up and drove me home. 

These are from his last days.

Maggie made this and it's hanging in our living room. He was a good old bud and we'll miss him.