Hello and welcome to The Compost Bin. I'm Compostwoman and I live with my family in rural Herefordshire. We have nearly four acres of garden and woodland, all managed organically and to Permaculture principles, which we share with Chickens, Cats and assorted wildlife. We also grow a lot of our own food, run courses in all sorts of things and make a lot of compost!

I am a Master Composter and have spent more than a decade as a volunteer Community Compost adviser with Garden Organic and my local Council.
I'm a self employed Environmental Educator so I run workshops and events where I talk about compost, veg growing, chicken keeping, cooking, preserving and sustainable living. I also run crafts workshops and Forest School/outdoor play sessions in our wood.

We try to live a more self sufficient lifestyle here, as best we can, while still having a comfortable life and lots of fun.


To learn more about us click on the About Compostwoman tab and remember to click on the photos to make them full size!


Monday 28 December 2009

Yet more sad stuff, just before Christmas...farewell to Kitty Cat

Yet more sad stuff here, I have a catch up post about the Festive Season, but first I want to tell you all about Kitty Cat.

Lovely old Kitty Cat reached the end of the road and took his last journey to the Vets on the Saturday before Christmas.

The poor old lad could hardly walk and had become unable to even get out through the cat flap to have a wee, so had taken to just going on the carpet. And as he has never used a litter tray (never learnt how to ..always went outside) there was not a lot we could do to help him.

He went from a strong, if a bit wobbly on his legs, old cat...to looking terrible in the last few days of his life. CM and I have been having "the conversation" several times that week as to if it was "time" but had decided he was still getting some good quality of life..but the last 2 days changed all that...

poor old lad, he looked so uncomfortable....couldn't even groom himself and fell over when he tried the last couple of days :-(

Holly the vet agreed he looked in a very poor way, she offered us the option of yet more tests etc but he had already been down that route earlier this year, was on lots of medication for Kidney and joint problems and was still going downhill fast...and had also started to be incontinent .....AND it would have meant an overnight (at least) stay in the vets, which distressed him hugely last time....so we declined to do any more prodding or poking of him. At 18, he had had enough....

As it was he had a nice last day lying on a cushion by the Aga being stroked and loved and fed cheese and other titbits, then he went quietly to sleep at the vets with CM stroking his head...

So...Tom and Tabitha have sniffed Kitty Cat's body so know he is gone on ahead...and he has been buried in the wood near the pool, a place where he loved to hunt for rabbits...he was a MIGHTY fine hunter until a year ago! Full grown cock pheasants, rabbits, adult rats, squirrels, moles, bats..you name it he could catch it and he never played with his food, as a serious hunter he killed it and ate it!

and there is much sadness around here as we have lost two beloved cats in less than two weeks.....

Farewell, old friend, there is a very large hole where you used to be....

:-(

13 comments:

  1. So sorry to read about Kitty Cat, but i love that you took the trouble to make sure his last day was one filled with tender love and care.

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  2. So, so sorry to hear about the sad loss of Kitty Cat..... yet you know very well that it is indeed the last act of love but never an easy decision to make and it leaves you bereft of a much loved pet and companion. May he rest in peace bless his heart! Much Love, Jane xxx

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  3. I feel your pain. We put DH's cat (of 16 years) down two years ago. He was a great cat, and then started having seizures. DH took great care of him, and he always seemed to come back. He at some point lost his vision and then his hearing. The last two seizures he didn't really recover from, so we took him to the vet.
    Its sad, but you will always have a part of him with you.

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  4. Hugs to you across the miles.
    Judy

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  5. I was so sorry to read about Kitty Cat. So hard to loose one member let alone two in such a short time. It is never easy to make the decision for your pet that it is time. Hugs

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  6. Oh, CW, that's awful, I'm so sorry, though it sounds as though you made the right decision. A friend's elderly cat has taken himself off - she'll never know what really happened and never had a chance to say goodbye.

    Hugs to you all xxx

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  7. Hugs to you all and RIP Kitty Cat.

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  8. Oh CW, such sadness - I'm shedding a tear with you on hearing this news. I do think it's lovely that you have brought your boy home to be buried in his favourite hunting place - just where he belongs.

    ((Hugs))

    Willow xxx

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  9. From the sounds of it Kitty Cat, at 18, have a wonderfully long and luxurious life. And in the end, what more can we ask for? We had the same kind of decision with a family cat of 21 last year - you know your cats, and you know when it's time. It's still not easy, we still cry and still miss them, but knowing that they had the best that you could give them helps, doesn't it?

    I'm truly hoping that 2010 will bring you lots of happiness and joy, and you'll still have lots of good memories of your cats, and maybe in time, you'll make new memories with some new (lucky!) additions to your clan, and not forgetting your current moggies and hens too.

    Wishing you peace for 2010,

    Lucy x

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  10. I'm new to your site, but I'm so sorry to hear of your loss, and I wanted to send you my heart felt sympathys. I have a wonderful cat a lot like your beloved boy. He likes to hunt, and eat what he hunts. God Bless

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  11. So sorry to read about Kitty Cat, but no doubt that you did the right thing considering how he was deteriorating.

    All the best to everyone at Compost Mansions for the festive period.

    x

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  12. Sorry to hear that you have lost yet another pet. We lost our cat a couple of years ago and she was the same age. She died a few months after turning 18 and had also had trouble walking, getting stiffer and stiffer. The morning she died was the first morning she had not managed to get to her tray. I could tell something was wrong when she sat in the doorway and didn't move when the family were leaving for work and school. I put her back in her room wondering if I should take her to the vet. When she didn't make it to her tray I mopped up the area and put her on dry towels and newspaper, making sure she had a drink and had food and water close to her face. I left her for an hour and when I came back she had died. We wondered if she had had a stroke in the night. We were lucky that it was all so quick and we didn't need to take her to the vet. We buried her that evening, wrapped in the towel she had been lying on, which had been her towel.

    I doubt your Kitty Cat would have lived much longer and you made sure he didn't have to suffer any more.

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  13. Very new to your blog but finding it ever so inspiring! I can't tell you how sorry you have suffered such losses. Your darlings had a great life and you did the right thing in the end, putting their well-being before yours. I too had to put my soul-pet to sleep this past Christmas; my beloved Irish wolfhound was but 5,5 years old when we said goodbye on his favourite couch. Bone cancer is such a cruel disease. His brothers, canine and felines, and I miss him lots but we know he lived his life to the fullest, and really, that's the only thing that truly matters after all.

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