It was a heartbreaking experience to go through. I decided to write this article as I now know how painful losing a pet can really be.
This is her story…
15 years ago, Panther wandered into our life.
She was a young kitten, skin and bones with a purple collar, but without an ID tag. It was obvious, her owners abandoned her. We just couldn’t believe it.
Now, the fact that I’m even talking about a cat is crazy!
I’ve never been a fan of cats, I was always a dog guy. To make matters worse, my wife was deathly allergic to cats. She would sneeze like there was no tomorrow if a cat even looked in her direction.
So one day, I came home from work, and I saw this cat on our back patio drinking some milk my wife put out. I didn’t think much of it. It must have been a day later, and when I came home, my wife walked to the back door, opened it, and said “Look…”
In struts this tuxie that later became our Panther.
I laughed and told the wife,
“What are you doing!
I don’t like cats and you’re allergic to them.”
The wife said,
“Ahh, she just wants some milk.”
So my wife continued to feed the cat milk, but we didn’t buy into the whole cat pet idea just yet.
That would soon all change…
I still recall the day Panther and I “officially” became buddies.
It was Thanksgiving day.
I saw that hungry kitty outside, so I brought her some warm turkey. She took it so gingerly, and well, that was it. We took Panther in, opened the doors, you name it. Suddenly, I liked cats, at least this one. Panther had a style about her, very affectionate, sweet, and gentle.
Somehow, over the months, the wife became immune to Panther.
No more sneezes.
Don’t ask me how.
If I ever figure it out, I’ll bottle it though!
Panther top right barely joined the family, and she was already fending off enemy invaders… or competition.
Then, just two weeks later, we moved to our new home in the country.
Yes, we had a lot going on.
However, as we packed up the last load, Panther was nowhere to be found. We looked and looked, and said, “Ohh well.” Yet, just as the wife started to drive away, all of the sudden this cat popped out of nowhere, and ran up to the car!
My wife opened the door, and “Bloop,” Panther jumped right in.
This cat must have been thinking,
“Ohh, I’ve been abandoned before, and it ain’t happening again!”
We couldn’t believe it.
So we get Panther to the new home, and my wife sets her down inside the house…
Boom!
Panther bolts out the front door. She had no clue where she was.
I said, “Ahh she’ll turn up.” Who really knew though, new location, plenty of predators in the country… We were actually getting attached, and yes, we would have gone back for her if she hadn’t jumped into the wife’s car.
Well, the entire day went by, and no cat. That is, until later that evening…
Then we hear a “Meow!”
Yep, Panther showed up!
She was just checking out her new digs.
You know, getting acquainted with the property and her new house.
Panther survived nine long years living in the country as an inside and outside cat. She was always healthy, and she battled cats, coons, and hunted everything there was to be hunted. Why, I even have a video of her licking the eye out of a bunny.
We had just started our new adventure and landed in an RV park in Texas. Now, you have to remember, Panther was a country cat. She was used to space, prowling, hunting, and all that jazz.
So, one night, she stayed out a little late.
A Texas thunderstorm rolled in, and boy did it pour!
Panther never showed up that night.
Or the next…
Or the next…
Five long nights went by and no Panther.
It was a first, she always, and I mean always came to bed.
We figured, the rain was so bad, that it wiped out her trail of scent back to our camper.
I can’t tell you how much we prayed for those five days.
We prayed and prayed some more, then prayed again. Then, as I was writing an article for this blog, I heard something on the RV steps. I thought,
“Please God, let it be Panther,” but I didn’t alert my family.
I just got up, opened the door, and sure enough, it was Panther!
We couldn’t believe it!
We freaked!
After five days she showed up, and she was visibly troubled…
In fact, it took her a couple of months to settle down. You couldn’t even hold Panther, without her jumping out of your arms when she got spooked. We still don’t know what she encountered that night, or how she found us, but we always credit God for it.
I’ll tell you what, from that day forward, Panther never left the RV out of her sight.
For six years, Panther roamed our vast nation with us.
Panther, traveler extraordinaire!She doubles as a snow leopard.Snuggle time!
I could write a book about it.
Panther always slept next to me. Remember, I told you we were buddies.
Panther warming up my spot!
So a year or so back, I woke up with her by my right side, I had this odd feeling, like, she wasn’t there anymore, as if she wasn’t alive. She didn’t move, I just had that feeling that she was gone.
I mean, she was 13-14 at the time.
I still remember my quick prayer…
I said,
“God, please, not today, not today.”
I knew Panther wasn’t going to carry on forever. There were signs she was getting older. Her not being able to make the big jump onto the bed. Of course, she was showing some grey.
Anyway, God answered, and she moved, and life carried on.
For a while…
Earlier last summer, Panther stopped eating. After the second day, we knew something was wrong, and we took her to the vet. I thought the worst, I just couldn’t help it. I even asked my readers for prayers in our community.
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The vet said, she had a urinary tract infection (UTI). So they prescribed some antibiotics, and she was better in a couple of days. We were so thankful!
Unfortunately, about a month later, the symptoms returned. She stopped eating, she even got sick. We took her to the vet again, by this time, we were headed out of the state, so we saw another vet. We told them about the prior vet visit, new tests were run, and they said she had UTI.
I thought, she never had a UTI in her entire life, and now two?
Nevertheless, Panther got the same antibiotics.
However, this time, she wasn’t getting better.
She still didn’t eat or drink, she started getting sick, and her personality disappeared. I had a horrible feeling, that we were going to lose her.
Yet, we had a flash of hope…
It was move day, we were leaving Montana, and our next stop was Idaho. Now on move day, Panther always goes into her cubby in the RV. She remembers that night I told you about in Texas very well.
However, on this move day, she came down the stairs, outside.
The weather had been terrible, but on this day, the sun was out and it was warm, Panther came outside and we all just sat there and enjoyed the moment. Yes, even though it was time to go.
We were just all surprised that Panther came outside. I mean, she hadn’t done much of anything since she had become sick. But there she was. We hung out for what felt like 30 minutes, then we ushered her inside so we could head down the road.
During travel day, we had a little more hope after that development.
So we pull into Idaho and set up camp.
Panther was slow, but she came and greeted us once we opened the door.
In fact, she came outside again!
As she made her way down the stairs, I almost had to catch her, she almost tumbled down the last two steps as she was so weak. So while we had this hope due to seeing her come outside, it quickly faded by seeing her reduced strength.
She stayed outside for hours that day.
In fact, it was the perfect day.
The sun was out, the temps were up, and we all had dinner outside with Panther. The kids even managed to get Panther to drink a little water, something she had not been doing.
I’ll never forget, as long as the sun hung in the sky that day, Panther stayed outside. So long in fact, that I knew something wasn’t right.
I sensed that, Panther knew her time was up.
I honestly think God made that day for all of us.
That last day, our last moments with Panther. Never take moments for granted, we didn’t.
As the sun began to dip in the sky, my youngest son Daniel put his coat around her, to keep her warm and comfy. Eventually, Panther did come inside, but we had to call her in. She just wanted to enjoy the outdoors that she loved so much.
It was now late and time for bed.
Panther wasn’t coming on her own, so I called her and she made her way up the makeshift stairs we made to our bed. She was almost lifeless, but she made it, as always, right by my side.
Unfortunately, it was clear, the antibiotics weren’t helping, and I was going to the vet in the morning.
That night Panther tumbled off the bed, it was horrible.
My wife slept downstairs with Panther as she remained restless for most of the night.
She even fell down the last couple of stairs inside our fifth wheel.
We could tell, the situation was dire. So before the sun ever came up, I found an emergency vet. They got us in, and my daughter and I rushed Panther in. The vet walked into the room to examine our kitty, and she went through the motions.
We said,
“Do whatever it takes to find out what’s wrong with her.”
After running numerous tests, I’ll never forget the vets words…
She said,
“Panthers numbers are off the charts” — in a bad way — “I’ve never seen numbers like this before.”
It was clear, Panther was hanging on by a thread.
Though we didn’t really understand what the vet meant.
The vet continued, she said,
“Even with all the treatments we can give her, I can’t guarantee she’ll pull through.”
We couldn’t help it, we broke down on the spot.
We instantly made the decision to hospitalize Panther, in the hope they could find the cause and make her well. We never let go of hope, even when it seemed lost.
Later that day, the main vet called me up. He was truly genuine.
He said,
“Our radiologist is in town. Unfortunately, Panthers not improving, she’s no better than when you brought her in. Sometimes, people like to know what’s wrong, it helps make a decision and know what to do.”
The idea was, the radiologist might find a problem, that hopefully could be fixed.
So we had the test done.
He did find a problem, but one that couldn’t be fixed.
A tumor was wrapped around three of Panther’s organs.
The constriction was causing all of Panther’s problems.
Suddenly, it all made sense.
That tumor is what caused Panther to have a UTI to begin with. I still don’t understand how Panther got better the first time with antibiotics, but it gave us another month together, that we’ll cherish forever.
As the vet went over everything, it was a hopeless situation.
The vet said,
“We could try operating, but I wouldn’t do it. I would find someone for you, the tumor is too tightly wrapped around the three organs and I’m not confident I would be successful.”
I asked the vet what he would do if he were in my shoes.
He said,
“It all comes down to quality of life. Panther’s 15, and even if we remove the tumor, will she be the same? I cannot guarantee that. She’s been through a lot already, surgery is tough, and honestly, I don’t know if she would even make it out of anesthesia.”
Heartbreaking.
He explained, people and animals have to be stable for such medicines.
Ohh how it hurts reliving that moment.
The vet concluded saying, he recommended euthanasia.
When I told my family the news, we all lost it.
None of us could hold it together, we all cried and cried some more.
Unfortunately, we now had a big decision to make.
As a family, we went through everything and said, we don’t want Panther to suffer anymore. I’ll never forget that last night at home. She was lifeless, and she got sick over and over again. As a family, we made the fateful decision to have her put to sleep.
I always knew that day would probably come, but that ugly day had arrived.
I’ll never forget that day.
It was cold, rainy, and gloomy, unlike the brilliant sunlit and warm day prior.
We were all present for the procedure.
Each one of us could have left, but we all decided to stay.
I was proud of how strong my family was that day.
The nurse brought Panther in on a fluffy cat bed. She was lifeless, but Panther managed to acknowledge our presence by turning her head and opening her eyes to look at each of us.
It was our last goodbye.
As we left the vet, I still remember that long cold, windy, rainy walk back to the truck. With tears in my eyes, I looked into that dreary sky and thanked God for the beautiful day prior, and in a strange way, I admired the dark sky on such a dark day.
We drove to the back of the building where the vet delivered Panther into our arms. We made the decision prior, to take care of the burial services ourselves.
Panther was our family.
She just loved that heater!Panther loves nap buddies.She joined us for a campfire on this day.
I found a National Forest nearby, and in the rain, together, we laid her to rest.
You know my friends, there’s one main thing I’ve learned in life.
You only get so many moments on earth. So you have to make the best of each and every one. You have to cherish each and every moment, because they don’t last forever. Those moments can be built by wonderful people, events, and even special pets.
Panther wasn’t just a pet, she was a special one, she was our family.
In the following days, I asked God…
“Heavenly Father,
If you would, can you please have my best friend take care of Panther, until I see her again.”
Have not I commanded thee? Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the LORD thy God is with thee whithersoever thou goest.
My Kitty Passed Away
A few months ago, our kitty Panther passed away.
It was a heartbreaking experience to go through. I decided to write this article as I now know how painful losing a pet can really be.
This is her story…
15 years ago, Panther wandered into our life.
She was a young kitten, skin and bones with a purple collar, but without an ID tag. It was obvious, her owners abandoned her. We just couldn’t believe it.
Now, the fact that I’m even talking about a cat is crazy!
I’ve never been a fan of cats, I was always a dog guy. To make matters worse, my wife was deathly allergic to cats. She would sneeze like there was no tomorrow if a cat even looked in her direction.
So one day, I came home from work, and I saw this cat on our back patio drinking some milk my wife put out. I didn’t think much of it. It must have been a day later, and when I came home, my wife walked to the back door, opened it, and said “Look…”
In struts this tuxie that later became our Panther.
I laughed and told the wife,
The wife said,
So my wife continued to feed the cat milk, but we didn’t buy into the whole cat pet idea just yet.
That would soon all change…
I still recall the day Panther and I “officially” became buddies.
It was Thanksgiving day.
I saw that hungry kitty outside, so I brought her some warm turkey. She took it so gingerly, and well, that was it. We took Panther in, opened the doors, you name it. Suddenly, I liked cats, at least this one. Panther had a style about her, very affectionate, sweet, and gentle.
Somehow, over the months, the wife became immune to Panther.
No more sneezes.
Don’t ask me how.
If I ever figure it out, I’ll bottle it though!
Then, just two weeks later, we moved to our new home in the country.
Yes, we had a lot going on.
However, as we packed up the last load, Panther was nowhere to be found. We looked and looked, and said, “Ohh well.” Yet, just as the wife started to drive away, all of the sudden this cat popped out of nowhere, and ran up to the car!
My wife opened the door, and “Bloop,” Panther jumped right in.
This cat must have been thinking,
We couldn’t believe it.
So we get Panther to the new home, and my wife sets her down inside the house…
Boom!
Panther bolts out the front door. She had no clue where she was.
I said, “Ahh she’ll turn up.” Who really knew though, new location, plenty of predators in the country… We were actually getting attached, and yes, we would have gone back for her if she hadn’t jumped into the wife’s car.
Well, the entire day went by, and no cat. That is, until later that evening…
Then we hear a “Meow!”
Yep, Panther showed up!
She was just checking out her new digs.
You know, getting acquainted with the property and her new house.
Panther survived nine long years living in the country as an inside and outside cat. She was always healthy, and she battled cats, coons, and hunted everything there was to be hunted. Why, I even have a video of her licking the eye out of a bunny.
Wanna see?
She once even escaped a near-death experience with a dog.
That’s another story for another time.
Years went by…
All my kids grew up with Panther.
They loved petting her or should I say squishing the life out of her.
Yet, Panther never scratched or clawed them.
Nope, she knew those kids were babies.
Panther even had babies of her own.
Then, we decided to sell it all and buy an RV. I told you that story.
Ohh yes, Panther came with us!
Cat, RV, why not?
I still remember one of our biggest scares…
We had just started our new adventure and landed in an RV park in Texas. Now, you have to remember, Panther was a country cat. She was used to space, prowling, hunting, and all that jazz.
So, one night, she stayed out a little late.
A Texas thunderstorm rolled in, and boy did it pour!
Panther never showed up that night.
Or the next…
Or the next…
Five long nights went by and no Panther.
It was a first, she always, and I mean always came to bed.
We figured, the rain was so bad, that it wiped out her trail of scent back to our camper.
I can’t tell you how much we prayed for those five days.
We prayed and prayed some more, then prayed again. Then, as I was writing an article for this blog, I heard something on the RV steps. I thought,
I just got up, opened the door, and sure enough, it was Panther!
We couldn’t believe it!
We freaked!
After five days she showed up, and she was visibly troubled…
In fact, it took her a couple of months to settle down. You couldn’t even hold Panther, without her jumping out of your arms when she got spooked. We still don’t know what she encountered that night, or how she found us, but we always credit God for it.
I’ll tell you what, from that day forward, Panther never left the RV out of her sight.
For six years, Panther roamed our vast nation with us.
I could write a book about it.
Panther always slept next to me. Remember, I told you we were buddies.
So a year or so back, I woke up with her by my right side, I had this odd feeling, like, she wasn’t there anymore, as if she wasn’t alive. She didn’t move, I just had that feeling that she was gone.
I mean, she was 13-14 at the time.
I still remember my quick prayer…
I said,
I knew Panther wasn’t going to carry on forever. There were signs she was getting older. Her not being able to make the big jump onto the bed. Of course, she was showing some grey.
Anyway, God answered, and she moved, and life carried on.
For a while…
Earlier last summer, Panther stopped eating. After the second day, we knew something was wrong, and we took her to the vet. I thought the worst, I just couldn’t help it. I even asked my readers for prayers in our community.
Study and news with a fresh Christian perspective in your inbox.
The vet said, she had a urinary tract infection (UTI). So they prescribed some antibiotics, and she was better in a couple of days. We were so thankful!
Unfortunately, about a month later, the symptoms returned. She stopped eating, she even got sick. We took her to the vet again, by this time, we were headed out of the state, so we saw another vet. We told them about the prior vet visit, new tests were run, and they said she had UTI.
I thought, she never had a UTI in her entire life, and now two?
Nevertheless, Panther got the same antibiotics.
However, this time, she wasn’t getting better.
She still didn’t eat or drink, she started getting sick, and her personality disappeared. I had a horrible feeling, that we were going to lose her.
Yet, we had a flash of hope…
It was move day, we were leaving Montana, and our next stop was Idaho. Now on move day, Panther always goes into her cubby in the RV. She remembers that night I told you about in Texas very well.
However, on this move day, she came down the stairs, outside.
The weather had been terrible, but on this day, the sun was out and it was warm, Panther came outside and we all just sat there and enjoyed the moment. Yes, even though it was time to go.
We were just all surprised that Panther came outside. I mean, she hadn’t done much of anything since she had become sick. But there she was. We hung out for what felt like 30 minutes, then we ushered her inside so we could head down the road.
During travel day, we had a little more hope after that development.
So we pull into Idaho and set up camp.
Panther was slow, but she came and greeted us once we opened the door.
In fact, she came outside again!
As she made her way down the stairs, I almost had to catch her, she almost tumbled down the last two steps as she was so weak. So while we had this hope due to seeing her come outside, it quickly faded by seeing her reduced strength.
She stayed outside for hours that day.
In fact, it was the perfect day.
The sun was out, the temps were up, and we all had dinner outside with Panther. The kids even managed to get Panther to drink a little water, something she had not been doing.
I’ll never forget, as long as the sun hung in the sky that day, Panther stayed outside. So long in fact, that I knew something wasn’t right.
I sensed that, Panther knew her time was up.
I honestly think God made that day for all of us.
As the sun began to dip in the sky, my youngest son Daniel put his coat around her, to keep her warm and comfy. Eventually, Panther did come inside, but we had to call her in. She just wanted to enjoy the outdoors that she loved so much.
It was now late and time for bed.
Panther wasn’t coming on her own, so I called her and she made her way up the makeshift stairs we made to our bed. She was almost lifeless, but she made it, as always, right by my side.
Unfortunately, it was clear, the antibiotics weren’t helping, and I was going to the vet in the morning.
That night Panther tumbled off the bed, it was horrible.
My wife slept downstairs with Panther as she remained restless for most of the night.
She even fell down the last couple of stairs inside our fifth wheel.
We could tell, the situation was dire. So before the sun ever came up, I found an emergency vet. They got us in, and my daughter and I rushed Panther in. The vet walked into the room to examine our kitty, and she went through the motions.
We said,
After running numerous tests, I’ll never forget the vets words…
She said,
It was clear, Panther was hanging on by a thread.
Though we didn’t really understand what the vet meant.
The vet continued, she said,
We couldn’t help it, we broke down on the spot.
We instantly made the decision to hospitalize Panther, in the hope they could find the cause and make her well. We never let go of hope, even when it seemed lost.
Later that day, the main vet called me up. He was truly genuine.
He said,
The idea was, the radiologist might find a problem, that hopefully could be fixed.
So we had the test done.
He did find a problem, but one that couldn’t be fixed.
A tumor was wrapped around three of Panther’s organs.
The constriction was causing all of Panther’s problems.
Suddenly, it all made sense.
That tumor is what caused Panther to have a UTI to begin with. I still don’t understand how Panther got better the first time with antibiotics, but it gave us another month together, that we’ll cherish forever.
As the vet went over everything, it was a hopeless situation.
The vet said,
I asked the vet what he would do if he were in my shoes.
He said,
Heartbreaking.
He explained, people and animals have to be stable for such medicines.
Ohh how it hurts reliving that moment.
The vet concluded saying, he recommended euthanasia.
When I told my family the news, we all lost it.
None of us could hold it together, we all cried and cried some more.
Unfortunately, we now had a big decision to make.
As a family, we went through everything and said, we don’t want Panther to suffer anymore. I’ll never forget that last night at home. She was lifeless, and she got sick over and over again. As a family, we made the fateful decision to have her put to sleep.
I always knew that day would probably come, but that ugly day had arrived.
I’ll never forget that day.
It was cold, rainy, and gloomy, unlike the brilliant sunlit and warm day prior.
We were all present for the procedure.
Each one of us could have left, but we all decided to stay.
I was proud of how strong my family was that day.
The nurse brought Panther in on a fluffy cat bed. She was lifeless, but Panther managed to acknowledge our presence by turning her head and opening her eyes to look at each of us.
It was our last goodbye.
As we left the vet, I still remember that long cold, windy, rainy walk back to the truck. With tears in my eyes, I looked into that dreary sky and thanked God for the beautiful day prior, and in a strange way, I admired the dark sky on such a dark day.
We drove to the back of the building where the vet delivered Panther into our arms. We made the decision prior, to take care of the burial services ourselves.
Panther was our family.
I found a National Forest nearby, and in the rain, together, we laid her to rest.
You know my friends, there’s one main thing I’ve learned in life.
You only get so many moments on earth. So you have to make the best of each and every one. You have to cherish each and every moment, because they don’t last forever. Those moments can be built by wonderful people, events, and even special pets.
Panther wasn’t just a pet, she was a special one, she was our family.
In the following days, I asked God…