Lewis

We had a sad element to our summer. While we were visiting my grandparents we received news from my MIL that Lewis was at the vet and very sick. He couldn't walk or eat by himself. He was completely helpless. It was obvious from the start that he was wasn't doing well and probably wouldn't make it. But I brought him home and spent a week feeding him and keeping him clean. I wanted the kids, especially Dominic, to have a chance to see that we'd tried and to be able to say good-bye.

By the 2nd week he had begun to be in pain. So we made the painful decision to put him to sleep. I took him to my friend's house (who is a vet) and she helped us say good-bye. She turned down the lights, put him on a soft blanket and let us hold him while he went to sleep. It was so sad, especially to watch Dominic say good-bye to his friend. But we couldn't let him be in pain with no hope of getting better. We'd tried everything and now it was time.

We will miss him greatly. He was a very special cat.

But Dominic wanted to heal his heart with a new kitten. A friend had some kittens so we brought two home. Wouldn't want one to get lonely. =) And with Alex (Caitlin's cat) so big, we weren't sure how one little kitten would adjust alone.

We named them Meme Fox and Katie Ganshert - Meme and Kate.*

They are the sweetest little kittens imaginable. The kids are in love and even Alex seems to have accepted his two new sisters.

*Sadly a coyote got Kate about 2 months after we brought her home.