Drake ( his story ) and my way of dealing with grief....

Well it has been three days now since my Drakey was put to rest. It has been a very difficult three days. When Chris took Drake in the vet did his exam and said that there is nothing else that he could do for Drake. The seizures would get worse. He had the beginnings of a infection in his sinus area. He lost over a pound since the last time the vet saw him and he pretty much was in failing health. The vet said the humane thing would be to put my baby down.

I knew when Chris made the appointment that would probably be the case that is the reason I did not go with him. Chris knew what he might have to do and did it. I would have procrastinated for another day or two and made it harder on all of us. I think I did that long enough already. Poor Drake will not suffer anymore. I should feel relieved but I feel guilty.

It has been cold here since Drake passed. Chris dug a hole over by my hydrangea tree and buried Drake. It is December of course it is cold, but that bothers me because Drake hated the cold weather. He was a indoor outdoor cat. When it was cold out he liked to run outside do his business and come back in. He was a good cat. For years I did not have to have a litter box. He was trained as well as any dog. I was always so proud of him.

I did not like the choice we had to make. I know he would still be clinging to life had I not put him down because he lived for us. He lived to cozy up in our laps at night. He lived for his chicken dinners. He was funny. Whenever we had chicken he would wait patiently by the table using his proper manners. ( he did not cry or act up just sat and waited for us) I always left Drakey some of my chicken because he was such a chicken fiend. His love for chicken went far above the average cats. When he was a young cat he once stole a piece of chicken with a fork in it... He dragged the chicken to the crawl space and enjoyed it. We knew the chicken was missing but assumed he ate it we did not realize that he stole it and ran taking the silverware with it . A few weeks later we discovered the chicken bone and fork in our crawl space. It was funny. He only did that once and I guess his love for chicken overcame his common sense at that moment... I think we all have those type of moments in life !

In his young life Drake was quite fiesty. He had a attitude. It was rather cute although it got him in trouble. If I did not feed him his canned food exactly when he wanted it he would walk around the kitchen following my feet. He would get a disgusted look on his face and swat my feet with his claws. I would yell at him and he would look timid for half a second and slap me again. I would put him outside . When I let him back in I would feed him his canned food. This went on for about 5 years. The kids were small when he was his fiestiest.

My oldest son always had Drake in his arms. He would carry him around like a sack of potatoes and I am sure like all kids he might have squeezed him a bit too hard at times but Drake never clawed my kids. He would pop my heels for canned food , but he would never ever hurt the children. Eric my youngest son was quite the handful and not once did Drake leave a mark on him. Once Drake got attacked by a dog. He decided that he could leave the yard and visit the neighbors. Well our neighbor had a lab that did not like cats. Drake scaled the fence and made his escape but the dog got his tail. He had a bald spot down half of his tail most of his life. He did learn his lesson and never ventured over there again.

It's funny how Drake came into our family. I was outside and found a cat in a tree. Obviously someone had dumped this cat in our neighborhood, dogs had chased it up a tree. I went and got a laundry basket so I could hold it up and have the cat jump in it. He did. We took him home with us .He was a solid gray cat. We named him Sebastian. It was in the summer and wicked hot. We had just moved into a new house. We did not have screens on the windows yet, and no air conditioner. We had our windows open . It was the morning after finding our new cat. I got up and all of a sudden I heard Chris yelling. I walked into the bedroom and there he was... Another cat. This one came right in the window and looked extremely pleased to be inside. He was a beautiful gray color with white markings under his body. Chris told me we had to get rid of the cats we can not keep them. I said okay. I grabbed " Drake " up and headed to the kitchen for tuna. I fed the two cats together . Of course the two cats knew each other. They had to be brothers. They played and looked so much alike.Sebastian was a lot meaner and territorial than Drake he would get too rough when playing. He also tried to boss Drake and bully him. I always felt sorry for Drake so he got the most attention.

Months passed and Chris seemed to forget we had to get rid of the cats. I took care of them and made sure they did not bother him. Chris was never a cat lover. The two flourished. About a year later we moved to Connecticut. Both cats came with us. Sebastian stayed with us but one day he went out and never came home. We looked everywhere but could never find him. He probably ventured off and found a new home. Drake on the other hand stayed with us. We moved about 5 times within his first 10 years. We bought our first home in Connecticut in 1998. We lived there for 6 years. We then moved to our current home and I am not moving again! Drake seemed to adjust very well and always seemed so happy.

It did not matter where he was as long as he had his family. This was my sons cat. They grew up together. For every birthday Tim celebrated Drake was another year older. We did not know exactly when Drake was born or how old. I think he was still a kitten under a year old when we got him. It was hard to be sure because Drake was never a huge cat. Either way he had a happy 15-16 years. I will never have another cat that will compare to him. I love animals but this one was beyond special.

Drake 1993 - 2008

We love you!