We had Smokey for two weeks and he lost weight everyday despite our efforts, and a visit to our vet for help.  He had constant diarrhea and he was almost always uncomfortable if not in pain.  You can’t ask a kitten if they hurt and on the 14th day, I made a hard decision to have him put to sleep.  There were some other circumstances that affected my decision, but they are too sad to put in a blog, so just take my word…he needed relief from his suffering.  Here are some unpublished photos of a sweet little kitten who tried very hard. 😦

Sleeping with his stuffed buddy.

Enjoying the porch with his big buddy.

My “dog-person” friend, really lost her heart to this little guy. He liked her a lot too.

Enjoying a sunbeam.

Sadly, I got no help from Mulder with this kitten.  In fact, he was depressed and weird the whole time Smokey was with us.  My gut tells me that animals can sense sickness in other animals and maybe he just didn’t want to get too close to an animal who was too ill to survive.  Who knows.  Maybe he was just jealous of Smokey and mad that he was in his space.  He never tried to hurt him, but he never gave him any love or comfort.  I forgive my big boy.  He can’t save them all.

Sad boy.

Jim made a tiny grave for him in our ever-growing pet cemetery, and he sleeps in good company in our back yard.  Rest peacefully Smokey. Say hi to Missy, Boots, Dave, Boo Boo, Bitsy, Rosy, Violet and Roger the Wonder Hamster when you get to the Rainbow Bridge.