Eddie

Submitted by DeepSeaSiren:

“When I first moved out of my parents’ house a few years after graduating, I moved into an apartment complex that kind of had some shady people living there. When I was moving in with my roommate, I noticed a small dark black cat sitting on a porch with a black dog. He belonged to ( if you could call it that because these people never gave him shots. The fact that he was fixed was because he belonged to the previous tenants, and they had left him behind) this family who had a cruel son. In the short time I was there at that complex, this poor cat Eddie had been attacked on purpose by a pit bull (no offense to pit bulls as I love them, and there are no bad animals, just bad people!), thrown into a swimming pool, thrown in a box and tossed down the stairs, kicked at, spit at.  And yet, this cat remained remarkably friendly. He never scratched or bit. But he was a feisty thing, an outdoor cat forever, hating the indoors except to catch some zzz’s, and he was always getting into fights with other cats.

Eddie started hanging around my apartment. I worked a graveyard shift and he was so cute…he’d wait right in my parking stall or wait at the head of the stairs when I opened the gate to go to my apartment.  Eventually he started hanging around so often that I took him to the vet ( and therefore had to claim ownership of him), got him his shots, gave him a bath, gave him plenty of cat food ( he used eat the next door neighbor’s dog food!). Eddie pretty much then claimed me as his caretaker. In that short time period was when this kid’s friend turned the pit bull loose and the dog grabbed Eddie, puncturing his stomach and sides. I took Eddie to get surgery done. He had two bladder infections after that. He was so beat-up looking, with patches of missing fur from where he was fighting with other cats and the shaved areas where the vet had to put the IV.  He was like a little gangsta kitty.

The sad end came for Eddie when he ate some kind of bone ( he was always going through the dumpster) . I didn’t see him for two or three days and was worried.  Then, the neighbor girl came over and told me, ” Well Eddie’s been under our porch in the crawlspace and he won’t come out.” I was so pissed off about that and managed to get him out from under there. He was breathing hard and his stomach was swelled up. I rushed him to the emergency vet as it was after hours and they worked on him but told me he had severe peritonitis as a result of a punctured intestine due to swallowing that bone piece.  Right in front of me, he passed away. He was lying there in his cage and he died. I was devastated. He had been through so much. The vet estimated his age at about fourteen, and the only comfort I took from my rage at those neighbors and my own grief at losing him was that at least I was able to give him some measure of goodness and comfort in his life of cruelty and mistreatment. And that was sixteen years ago. I think of him every single day.”

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~ by rescuemeow on February 10, 2010.