Thank you for everyone's kind words once again. It is very much appreciated.
Just an update...
A couple of weeks ago I had a change of heart regarding adopting another cat. This may turn into a long story as it is a happy story among a sad one so here it goes.
We contacted a couple of adoption agencies regarding donations of other cat items that we still had. Just about all of them would say "Are you sure that you do not want to adopt again when you are ready?" or somewhere along those lines. It got me thinking, and then talking to the wife about it, and thinking a little more. So we looked around at the various pet stores that had cats from adoption agencies. We looked online. We went at this with the thought of "we'll see what happens". We saw some very nice cats, well all of them were nice in my book really. With that said, we did not settle on anything.
Fast forward a couple of days. My Dusky Conure, his name is Dusty, started getting "poop" all over his bottom. This has never happened before. We've had him for 24 years, got him as a baby, he's never had any health issues. Myself and the wife both thought he just got some on himself and it just started building up. We made a vet appointment to see if they could bathe him and get it all off. Turns out he had a Prolapse. He had to either be humanely put down or have surgery.
This was a tough decision kind of... there was a big chance that the Prolapse can come back, could be a day could be months, years or never. Do we want to put him through that? This was the big question. But even though it was kind of a hard decision, it really wasn't. We wanted to give him a chance. A chance that Kiwi did not have. We owed him that much. He was our son. 24 years old, 24 years with us. We've have him longer than any pet, way way longer and the expense was not even a forethought.
Dusty went in for his surgery. The called and said it went well and that we can pick him up by the end of the day before they close. Great or so we thought. My wife went inside to get him and as she walked out I saw he hands empty, no carrier, no Dusty. My heart sank. I thought to myself please don't come over to me saying he is gone. She was not crying so I had my hopes up. She walked over to me and told me it came out already and they have to do a second surgery. I felt horrible that Dusty has to go through this all over again.
Day 2 of Dusty at the vet and having his surgery. They called and said things went well (again). I could not get him that say because they closed early. I picked him up the following day and he was very lively which was great. He came home and we put him back in his cage. He was eating like crazy, drinking and being loud. He seemed like his usual self. Later that night things seemed to quiet. We had the cage covered so he will relax and not be so active. He was on the bottom of his cage. My wife found him that was a screamed that he is dead. He was not though, he was just kind of not very active but he seemed ok. We put him in the carrier just in case he fell and we did not want that to happen again of course. Later on he seemed lethargic. We were really hoping it was just because he was exhausted from being so active and from the surgeries and that he was really ok.
The next morning he was gone. He passed sometime overnight. Once again we were devastated. Not only that, the guilt that I feel putting him through that. The guilt of making the wrong decision. We should have had him put down humanely instead of going through what he did. All we wanted to do was give him a chance. RIP Dusty, he will forever be missed. WE loved him dearly. Always in our heart. Today we picked up his ashes and his footprint. They are right next to Kiwis. My two babies are together now.
Now there is a part I did not mention. While my wife was in the Vet waiting and signing papers to have Dusty admitted the first time I had went to Petco which was across the street. Turns out they had adoptable cats there from a local shelter. Again some very nice cats but one in particular caught my eye. She was so friendly and lovable. And there was just something about her, she seemed to have a kind soul. Her name is Bebop and she's a year and a month old, she had been a Mommy too. When I went back to my wife I told her about Bebop. I brought my wife there to see Bebop and she felt exactly the same way I did.
I called the shelter and made arrangements to meet Bebop out of the cage. She was so great. We knew even before that, that she was the one. Right then and there we adopted her. We had to pick her up the next day though because we barley had anything left for a cat. We had to re-buy everything. So we got some stuff and we got the rest and Bebop the next day. We've had her for almost two weeks now and she is a part of the family, she's our baby and she is AWESOME! We love her like crazy. She is seriously a wonderful cat and kind soul. We are so lucky to have found her. While I still miss Kiwi dearly, I can't help but think somehow she guided us to Bebop and brought us together. Bebop did get to meet Dusty but only for a short time.
Below are pics of Dusty and Bebop. Thanks for taking the time to read this. It was long I know, please excuse the typos and grammatical errors along with words that probably make no sense, lol.
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