Beloved Hunter

As many of you read in my previous post we were having some health concerns with Hunter. We thought we had identified the problem and were solving it. However after being on the medication for over a week he was still getting worse. Not eating or drinking and having a hard time going to the bathroom. He was hiding out from us, which is not is usual behavior. He is usually all over us and always with us. Brad called the vet yesterday to discuss what we were seeing and the vet said we needed to bring him in right away. Basically we would either have to put him through very extensive testing to find out what was going on, which was most likely something very serious. As the vet said this is going to be something more than just a "band-aid" or we would need to put him down. This was such a hard decision, but we tried to remove the emotion from the situation and focus on what was best for Hunter. That being said we knew we needed to put him to rest. Putting him through all the testing, having him be miserable and at his age it just didn't seem humane. We put him to rest last night at my mom and Tim's. They have a flag pole, on a hill, on their land that has other beloved pets by it. Hunter was a wonderful cat and we will miss him dearly.

When we picked up the girls I told Kaylee and at first she asked if he had gone with the monster, and that she doesn't like monsters. I said no, Hunter was very sick and he died so he won't be at home anymore. She asked where he went and I said to heaven. That was it until we were on our way to mom's, which we didn't say we were burying him, we stayed up by the house while Brad and Tim did that, she brought it up again. Here's how it went:

Kaylee: I think he will come back home.
Me: no K-K he is gone and won't be home because he died and now he's resting in Heaven.
Kaylee: why?
Me: Because he his tummy was very sick
Kaylee: Who put something in his tummy?
Me: No one did, it just happens sometimes when animals get older
Kaylee: I didn't mean to hurt him
Me: (Trying to hold back the tears) You didn't hurt him, you took very good care of him and he loved you very much.
Kaylee: I want my kitty back
Me: I know but he is resting in Heaven now

That was pretty much it. When we got out of the car at mom's she ran over to mom and Tim and said that Hunter died and then just kept running around and didn't say anything since. I'm sure there will be other times she will bring it up. So far it's as good as can be expected. but he was definitely a part of our family and we will all miss him dearly. May he rest in peace.