The right decision is sometimes the most heartbreaking one as well. My kids had to look deep into their souls, and decide that helping their frail little old lady kitty across the rainbow bridge was kinder than waiting for her body to just give out on its own. They made an appointment with the vet for this afternoon, and I went to sit with the babies while they said goodbye.
They tried to explain to Valerie what was happening, but her sweet child mind couldn't quite grasp it. None of us wanted her to have an unrealistic idea of what death is, but neither did we want to really strip all of the gloss off of life for her. While her parents were at the vet, I made an attempt with, "Fenêtre's body got old and she couldn't stay in it anymore," or something to that effect. When she came home in the cardboard coffin, and they opened the lid so the other cats could find out she was gone, Valerie tried to say she was sleeping, and her parents explained she would never wake up.
Today was not the best day to deal with this. There was another surprising snowstorm overnight, giving us two to three inches of snow and making the ground extra difficult to dig in. Once the yard was ready, they took Valerie out for her to participate in their final goodbye. I kept Dmitri inside (and he fell asleep in my arms right about the time they went out). For those of you who speak French, yes, her name was indeed the word for "window." I don't know the story behind it, other than it was a cool-sounding unique cat name. She was very sweet, and a champion lap cuddler. Farewell, window kitty. Godspeed.
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