The Irony of Life

Life can be very ironic and sometimes it is hilarious, but other times as I have experienced this past week the irony can seem very cruel. My cat Bob was only a little over a year old when she died Friday night. She was my cat and I loved her. She was adorable with the bob tail she had been born with and she also had ADHD which made her really fun to play with. Well...at the beginning of this week she would not eat and she just layed around. As the week progressed she looked worse and worse. Her eyes looked sick. It was as if she had the flu. So my mom called the vet and scheduled her an appointment for Friday at one thirty in the afternoon. Well...Friday mom had to go to work so I was left in charge of taking Bob to the vet which was no big deal. I just wanted her to be better. After waking up at 8 o'clock I went outside to check on Bob and saw that she was way worse than she had been before...she was so weak that she couldn't even turn her head to look at me. I knew I had to get her to the vet and fast if she was going to make it. So right as I was running in the house to call the vet my mom pulls up and said she had just taken my brother to basketball and was on her way to work but she wanted to stop and make sure that Bob was ok...well after looking at Bob mom called the vet and they said that they could get her in at 10. By the time mom left it was 9 so I ran and got in the shower and got dressed then I went outside and tried to get Bob to eat but she wouldn't...and she wouldn't drink milk either...she would only drink water. After this failed attempt, I got a towel and picked her up in it and set her in the passenger seat of my car...well by this time I was bawling....her eyes looked so sick and she just collapsed from weakness when I set her in the seat....and she kept meowing a sick meow that screamed "Help me please." So I took off for the vet and just prayed the entire way that she would be ok and begged God to save her. When I got to the vet, I walked in holding my sick kitty and just gave the secretary a look that communicated the same thought Bob had..."Help me please." As I walked into the room where the vet would see her and held my weak kitty I was overcome with emotion...but I tried so hard not to cry because I had to be the adult...I had to answer the questions the vet had and I had to hear what the diagnosis was. After taking some blood samples and looking my cat over...the vet said the seven words that I dreaded all along..."I'm sorry there's nothing I can do..." I was crushed. I was going to lose my cat...He told me that she had a disease known as "Bobcat disease"...ironic huh? My bobtailed kitty named Bob had bobcat disease. He told me that it had to be it but the disease couldn't even be properly diagnosed until after the cat died. So I just whispered through my tears..."Are you sure there is no treatment?"...and he said that scientists have done some research on the disease and that through expensive blood transfusions they have managed to save a few cats...but the books will tell u there is no treatment. So knowing that there was no hope I paid the vet bill and walked out of the vet's office carrying my cat whose condition had worsened in the short time I was there. By then she was panting and having trouble breathing and the meowing didn't stop. I tried to comfort her but I knew she was in such pain...and after setting her down in the seat once again and after I sat down next to her I lost it....I let loose of all the pent up tears I had managed to hold back while in the vet's office and I bawled my eyes out. It hurt to know that she would die...but I couldn't take watching her suffer. And as I drove home I had to pull over a couple times because I was crying so hard. The saddest thing was that as I watched my weak kitty she was shaking the whole time but she managed to crawl enough so that her head was laying in my lap. I honestly couldn't take it...I couldn't stop crying and I was about to throw up. After I made it home I layed Bob in her favorite spot and got her water and just sat there petting her. I was all alone and still hysterical so I called Lindsey who I knew was at the pool and left her a voicemail telling her all that had happened. I didn't care that she couldn't answer my call...I just needed to talk to someone even if it was just a voicemail...Well not ten minutes later Lindsey calls me and tells me she is on her way to my house and all I could say was "for real?" and a few minutes later she showed up with a Rumba, lottery ticket and ring pops to cheer me up...she truly is an amazing friend...I am sooooo glad that I have her! And she also managed to get my mind off of it for awhile. About one thirty Lindsey had to leave to go to work at the YMCA and all I could say was thank you. I had to leave soon after and I went out to Bob and told her that I loved her and petted her for the last time. That night at work mom called and left me a voicemail that Bob had died...and I cried again when I heard that but I was also thankful to God that she was not suffering anymore and that I wasn't there to see her die. I still wonder why it had to be my cat that had to die and why life can be so cruel...but I know that God has a purpose for everything and his plan may not always be the same as mine but I know that he does what is best for everyone...So now I am trying to move on with the knowledge that someday I will see Bob again in heaven, along with my fish Fred and we will be one happy family again!