Loss of Family Member

It was a very sad day yesterday in the Kane Household. And, will probably be a sad week or two.

Erika and I have a lot of love to give, and our house has truly been beaming with it. After we were married in 2005, we adopted our second 'child' in the form of our cat, Hermione. We already had a guinea pig named Fozzie from when we were engaged. We aren't the normal type of adopting, as we seem to be into the rescuing of animals.

Hermione was a barn cat, and when we got her was extremely sick. We, however, gave her a lot of love and medication - and she has been in glorious health ever since. She is now three years old.

A little while after our son was born, we again adopted a sick animal in the form of our dog, Abby. She was born to a large litter of puppies that was in a bad situation, and managed to get some parasites. But, we again gave her a lot of love and medication, and she is in perfect health as well - and is a little over a year old now.

Just before Christmas last year, Erika and I felt we had a little more love to give. So we adopted two more 'children' in twin kittens Rusty and Sydney. Instead of a barn, however, we adopted them from the humane society.

We were a bit upset, because Rusty arrived with a major cough and his eyes were very runny. But, again, we took the two of them in and nursed them back to health with love and medicine. Rusty is also in perfect health now, and is extremely rambunctious.

Sydney was also doing pretty well for the first part of his time in our house, however, I had noticed a change in not only his demeanor, but his looks as well.

He had totally stopped playing. He wasn't eating or drinking as much. And for the most part, after he got up in the morning, would sit either staring out the window or behind the vacuum cleaner. I was very worried about his health.

Yesterday, we got the news that we were dreading. Sydney had developed the virus F.I.P. (Feline Infectious Peritonitis), a mutated form of the feline coronavirus. This coronavirus is apparently pretty common in household cats, especially those homes with multiple cats. But, it is extremely rare for it to mutate - as in 1-in-5,000. There is no cure for the F.I.P. virus, and unfortunately we had to make the tough decision yesterday.

Our pets are like members of our family. We treat them no different - they get yelled at when they do things wrong, and they get praised when they are good. And we always enjoy spending time with them, and playing. So, when you lose a member of your family it hurts - and it hurts for awhile. Even though we made the right decision, it is going to hurt. Sydney was suffering, but selfishly I wish he could have come home with us yesterday - though it wouldn't have been fair to him, or easier on us.

He was an amazing cat, and I am happy that we were able to spend time with him. I wish we would have had many more years, but I cherish the time we did get to spend with him. I would have been very sad if his final moments were still in the human society.

I know you are in a better place now, Sydney. I hope that you enjoyed your time with us, and that we treated you well. You were extremely important to us - and we love you very, very much, and always will. You are gone in body, but never in spirit. We will remember you always. Rest in peace little buddy - we love you.