Sometimes our pets portray a human side that after time we begin to feel as if they are our children. The passing of them can be as heartbreaking as one of your children.
Revised 11/14/06

Auggimus The Greek Cat

 

This has been a very upsetting morning for me. As I approached my driveway I saw something black with a tinge of white lying on the road close to my drive way....about twenty feet. I pulled my car slowly into the drive while my heart felt as if it were going to burst from racing in fast mode…I just knew it was my cat.

I briskly walked over to the still form and looked at my poor cat. He wasn't all crushed but his abdomen was bloated and a slight bit of blood settled out of his mouth and nose. Without thinking I took off my white rain coat and gently wrapped him loosely as if he were a baby and delicately picked him up.

As I walked back to my car carrying him, warm tears streamed down my face, crying harder with each step. Gently I laid his wrapped limp body onto my passenger seat, then I drove the rest of the way down the long driveway to the garage door.

There were soft howling sounds of a distressed mother that became louder with each wheel turn of the car. My body shuddered the closer I got to my garage. I opened the garage door with the electric opener and surprisingly it opened the entire way this time. Before entering the garage I picked up my lifeless Auggie and held him close to me as if a new born baby, cradling him so he wouldn’t break.

Standing in the pouring rain I wondered where I should rest him. I walked to the back yard deck, and then walked back to the garage. I wanted him to rest safely until I could decide where his final resting place would be.

He loved roaming in our large two acre back yard, especially in my gardens; he was a great hunter of rabbits, mice and other predators who did not belong on his territory. After a few minutes I decided to let his body rest on a secluded bench on the deck. Into the house I went in search of a secure box or cover to prevent him from being savaged by other animals.

While I was in the house I heard a woman howling in sorrowful agony...my husband… ("The voice from the basement", which was now "The voice from upstairs"); called down in a cracked voice of severe concern, "What's the matter? What happened?"  Through broken words and crocodile tears I managed to convey the loss we had just encountered.  The voice from upstairs began to quiver in disbelief.

I was on a mission so I went back to the garage in search of a box to bury Auggimus in. I wondered from one garage to the next, until finally deciding on an old flannel table cloth.

Out on the deck Auggie laid wrapped in my white rain coat on the bench. I went and carefully picked up my beloved little one and place him in the center of the prepared cover. I positioned him comfortably with his paws and chin down, then wrapped him in the manner of post mortem care. I noticed his barely scathed body. He lay quietly as if sleeping. The only indications of his demise were his bloated abdomen and he now oozed more blood from his tiny pink lips and black nose. A small patch of fur was torn from his right hind leg, but all parts were intact. Crouching down I picked up his prepared body and replaced him on the bench on the deck.

After all the work I did , "The voice from the upstairs", came out side and wanted to view his buddy for one last time. I gently lowered my little one to the floor and displaced the cover from Auggies' limp body. After we viewed the body for a few seconds I rewrapped him and cradled him, then took him in the two car garage where I gently laid his tiny obscured body down to rest on my special bench.

He will be buried in the big garden that divides the barn from the yard, yet close enough to my house that I can see his burial place. I will need to make a special sign for him where he will rest. We will truly miss this unique cat that gave us laughter and happiness as well as a whole lot of love.

Now I have to rest since my body and mind are now totally drained. I don't know if I can. As we cried in front of each other all I said was, "I want another Auggie."  Of course that would be impossible, but maybe, just maybe some cat with the same neat personality and charisma wil come my way. The voice said "yes we can, but just not right now." 

9/30/06 HCD
  Revised 11/14/06