My Project: 365 Creative Writing Prompts
Day 145: Goodbye to Gabriel
I quickly fell in love with this breed of cats. What was not to love, judging by the photos and stories they were beautiful, affectionate and smart.
Judging by the price of such a cat, I knew I would probably never own a Ragdoll, it just wasn’t in my budget. I preferred rescue animals over purebreds anyway. For the price of one purebred cat, I could help several abandoned ones.
Still, when I heard about a breeder who wanted to get rid of a Ragdoll kitten because it wasn’t perfect, I jumped at the chance. He was willing to let the kitten go at a fraction of the price. To this day I don’t know what was wrong with the kitten because it sure looked perfect to me. Right away we knew what we would call the little one … Gabriel, because he was a little angel.
As soon as I brought Gabriel home, Mickey (one of the resident cats) adopted him. The two would eat, play and sleep together and were generally inseparable. When Mickey wasn’t around, Gabriel would substitute him with his cuddle buddy.
To make him comfortable he was given oxygen, but now we had to decide what to do. With the right medication, he could live a few more months, but all things considered, he would suffer. The vet said she would give us time to think it over.
I didn’t have to think it over. I knew the time had come to let Gabriel go. Even though he was only 10 years old, having an animal suffer is unacceptable. So he was brought to us, we said our goodbyes and he peacefully crossed over to Rainbow Bridge.
There are so many things we will miss about him. Dieter will miss him too as every night, without fail, Gabriel would jump in the chair next to him and demand to be petted. He would look at Dieter and let out a loud meow. BTW Gabriel never said meow as such, his meow sounded like “mayo”.
Then he would retreat to his spot on the cat tree or jump via the cat tree onto the wall unit and lay in his basket. Gabriel would never curl up as such, he would rest or sleep on his back.
When the lights were turned off and I went to bed, he would come with me. Every night he would sleep on my bed. Last night he wasn’t there and this morning I missed his cry for breakfast.
While we are sad at the loss of Gabriel I have no doubt that he is in a wonderful place, reunited with Mickey and a variety of other cats.
Rest in peace Gabriel.
Your words were of great comfort and I appreciate your support more than I can say.