Friday, June 13, 2014

Goodbye, Chloe Cat

I took Chloe to the vet yesterday and had her put down.
She was 19 years old.
This is a pic from her 14th summer...
These last few months she had a difficult time walking and eating.
But she definitely put in a long run as a good farm cat.  She was a great mouser, with a distinct personality...
She swiped every dog we ever owned across the nose if they got too rowdy in her presence.  Hence, all of our dogs had a deep respect for her.
When our youngest son was four months old we discovered he was severely allergic to Chloe and he could not breath.  It was a scary time for us as a family and, on doctor's orders, the cat was sent to live outdoors.  I was initially filled with guilt and worry for her.  Within a week Chloe had systematically destroyed every window screen on the house.  After that I think we both called it even.
She was relatively sweet with us at home, but the first time we took her to the vet's office there was an "incident."  I dropped her off for shots and a spay and when I picked her up the vet told me he didn't want to ever see her again.  Apparently she was not well-behaved.
A few years later we decided to have our horse vet give Chloe her vaccinations during a farm visit.  Chloe began growling when she saw the vet across the yard.  There was a great struggle, which resulted in two bent needles and Clancy laying his entire body across the vet's tailgate, thereby squishing the cat flat underneath him.  The injection was given and Chloe released.  I will never forget the image of her furry body springing up and flying through the air...dead set on clawing the vet's face off.  One would assume she'd be mad at Clancy for restraining her.  But she blamed the vet for the entire situation and tried her best to take revenge.  Clancy swatted the cat off the vet, who was busy trying to protect her face with her arms.  Chloe was pronounced "set for life" that day as far as vaccinations went.
 Despite her lack of veterinary attention, she was remarkably healthy throughout her life.

Chloe refused to share her territory with any other cat.  She regularly whooped on any stray that came along and disposed of the intruder, like clockwork, the very night after it was first spotted in the yard.  We only ever had ONE cat....Chloe.

She will be missed...
the way she would rub against our hands...but bite us if we petted her....
except Clancy....
she had a soft spot for Clancy.
And he certainly had a soft spot for her.

Bye, Chloe. 

4 comments:

Michelle said...

What a story; what a cat!

Kelly said...

I love how you let us see Chloe.....Michelle is right, great story.
May she be swatting vets all over Cat Heaven.

Sabrina Wille Erickson said...

Thanks for reading this post. Chloe was very much her own person. She only ever met three vets, but she didn't like any of them...(including the last one, who wisely decided to sedate her before administering the main drug. She had difficulty standing up but that didn't stop her from hissing!) And yet Clancy could tug on her whiskers and she would still purr and cuddle with him. The rest of us had to behave so much better than Clancy did. :)

Spinners End Farm said...

Awww. Chloe had a sweet spot for Clancy. She certainly sounds like she was a formidable prescience at your farm. Sorry for your loss Sabrina.