Good-bye Casper and Logger :(

I 'stole' Casper off my ex.  He had this cute little white kitten and needed someone to cat sit when he went away. I offered as I thought it would be good for Em to have a pet around and well..... I just never gave him back! He was such a cute kitty and I fell in love with him from the first day.

Then the following year, the guy I was with at the time brought home a little stray ginger kitten. He found her swimming around in a broken water main. She was tiny and almost impossible to house train - hence the kids named her Logger!

  My daughter Emma with Casper and Logger - she is 21 now!

 When we moved to Australia from NZ in 2007, we brought both of the cats with us. Casper had already started to get black spots on his nose and ears. The NZ vet then had warned me that I would have to make the decision soon whether to operate or put him down.

About 4 years ago, now 12yrs old, Casper went through a gruelling op to remove skin cancer off his face. $1200 later and he lost practically both of his ears and his nose and took quite a while to heal fully. Once he did, he looked like some exotic breed and was very healthy and happy.

Then a few months back, my 14 year old cat Logger started to drop weight drastically and was diagnosed with a thyroid problem. We put her on meds and she started to come right and look and act like herself again.
 
Casper's cancer made a comeback recently. I knew as soon as I saw it that it was all over for him - there was nothing left to cut off his face and he is 16 now. But I begged the vet to let me try antibiotics. It has been nearly 5 weeks with no improvement so I called into the vets today to ask for a collar. She asked me if it was for Casper and I said it was - I was hoping if I could stop him scratching, it may heal....


She looked at me and said that it wasn't going to heal and that I knew that. Putting a collar on him and making him even more miserable wasn't the answer - I knew what the real answer was. I know what I have to do, it's just so bloody hard. I have had these cats longer than 2 of my children. To make matters worse, Logger has started going downhill again and today she has diarrhoea which means her kidneys are probably on their way out..... So it looks as if both of my cats need to be put to sleep.

Casper's eye is all scabbed over today - I just need to come to terms with it and do the right thing. Once I have finished crying and Barry is home to come with me - cos I really don't think I could do this alone!

For the last couple of years, this is where my cats have been locked up at night - during the day they would roam around the yard and sleep in the garden. They could no longer come inside because of their failing health and neither of them wants to be around little kids anymore....

Casper's face a few weeks ago, it is worse now...... :(

cat years calculator