GrayC's Tribute Page

It was only yesterday that I had him checked at the vet before we would let him in the house with the other cats. He checked out ok, so he came right in. At first, we thought he was a she, and we called him/her Gracie. Then when we realized she was a he, we changed his/her name to Gray C, or Gracin. We didn't understand what he was saying at first, but we soon realized that Gracin was saying, "I'm a BOY!!!"

He fit in well with the others. As a matter of fact, he became best friends with Sandy, our orange tabby. Sandy was timid and always leery of humans, but took well to other cats. Gracin and Sandy would spend almost all day together, and follow each other around. They'd go upstairs together - one would wait for the other - to "hit the hard food". They'd sleep together on the back of our love seat, one leaning on the other. They'd sit together at the front window and watch outside, side by side.

Why, only yesterday Gracin was rolling on his back, with what seemed like 18 legs scrambling to swat the long stick that Diane would hang over him. Then he'd claw at the large cardboard scratch pad and play with the stick there.

Only yesterday, as I was walking down the stairs, Gracin happily greeted me with a trill, asking to be given a little attention, and then he ran over to his food bowl as if to show how happy he was. He has been so calm, so appreciative and never any trouble. He and Sandy were the best eaters, too. Come feeding time, the two of them would line up next to each other, and patiently wait for their bowls.

It was only yesterday we took in three sibling kittens that turned out to be the terrors of the house. One of them, Blinky, would sometimes go after Gracin, and Gracin was too timid to fight back. Well, that didn't last too long, and Gracin turned things around and would go after Blinky. After all, turnabout is fair play; we could hear Gracin saying as he would bite Blinky's neck, "now you're my 'BEETCH'!!!" (Gracin had a bit of a French accent).

And then only yesterday, Gracin started having trouble breathing. After a lot of pokes and prods and X-rays and such, we found out that Gracin had something called chylothorax. It made fluid build up in his chest, making it hard to breathe. Problem was that no one knew what was causing it, and our only options were to attempt a risky surgery, or treat it with some herbs that were known to help decrease the fluid buildup. Meanwhile, we had to have the fluid drained with a needle by the vet.

Only yesterday morning we had his chest drained, but he still had a lot of trouble breathing at night. We thought he'd be ok until the next morning, and we planned to take him to the vet. We were wrong. SO wrong. Very suddenly, Gracin couldn't breathe at all. We were frantic! We scrambled to bring Gracin to the nearest emergency hospital. My best efforts to give CPR failed, and Gracin died in my arms in the car. I have never cried so hard and for so long in my life. Gracin, how could I have failed you like this? I'm so sorry!

Only yesterday...