My Sweet Wendel

My sweet little Wendel is no longer with us. He spent 15 years with us and last Thursday September 11 he went to kitty heaven.

He has been getting very skinny lately but we thought it was because he was getting old. Last week he got real sick and could hardly walk. He wasn't eating, drinking, or anything. We knew something was wrong so we made an appointment at the Vet. Dominic was even worried about Wendel and called home several times on Tuesday and Wednesday to check on him. We found out that Wendel was having kidney failure. Dominic had to work on Thursday so I had to take Wendel by myself to have him put to sleep. That was the saddest drive and I didn't want to hand him over but I knew it was best for Wendel.

At the Vet Wednesday night, they gave Wendel some fluid and an antibiotic. This made him feel just a little better. Thursday morning I took him outside and let him sit on our back porch--his favorite place. He was so weak but he got enough energy to slowly walk around to his favorite spots in our backyard. I felt like he knew that he was near the end so he wanted to visit those places one more time. He walked over and sat on Daisy's patio for a little while, then he walked over to the kid’s sandbox and sat for a while, then back by the garden. On his way back he was struggling so I carried him back up the stairs to sit on the porch again. He stayed there until I had to put him in his carrier.

It was hard for Lenny to understand why Wendel was leaving us. I made sure that Lenny was able to say goodbye to Wendel because I didn't want him to not get the chance. Lenny picked up one of Wendel's balls and said that he wanted Wendel to play with it. So we took it outside and Lenny put it beside of Wendel. He petted his head and told Wendel that he didn't want him to go. Lenny told me that he wanted Wendel to take his ball to heaven with him because there wouldn't be anything there for him to play with. Lenny also said, “I like my cat. I don’t want him to go. Our house would be wrong if we don’t have a cat.”

We also knew that something was wrong with Wendel because he usually won't let the kids within a couple of feet of him. Tuesday morning, Dominic and I heard Lenny and Nathan talking and we looked over and they were talking to Wendel. Wendel just sat there and didn't leave so I made them leave him alone. Later that morning Wendel was in the family room where I could see him. Brooke kept walking over to him, sitting down and looking at him. I then saw her go over to her cow. She picked it up, took it over to Wendel, and then put the cow ear up to Wendel's nose just like she does to other people. It was so sweet! I then made her leave Wendel alone since he wasn't feeling well.

Wendel was a kitten of my mom's cat that she had years ago. Here is a picture of me and Wendel the day that mom brought him to me at my college apartment about 15 years ago.


My roommate Jill and I shared Wendel when we were in college. He also spent a lot of time at Dominic and his roommate Pat's apartment. Pat was Jill's boyfriend and later husband. We had a lot of fun with Wendel. And, Wendel was Dominic's first pet ever when we got married.

Here is a picture of Wendel about 10 years ago.


Here is Wendel on Thursday while he was sitting on Daisy's patio. Daisy has a brick patio that she can stand on while she looks out a hole in the fence that Dominic cut for her. Wendel also liked to sit there sometimes and look out the hole of the fence. He sure does look old.


We loved Wendel alot and we miss him but we know that he would only have gotten worse. He was a very good cat and I told him that many times.

From the Mouth of a Four Year Old

I thought I would brighten up this post with something that Lenny has said several times. Lenny loves animals. Anytime you ask him what he wants to be when he gets bigger he says, "I want to take care of animals. But I don't want to wear any clothes." I keep telling him that I think he will need to wear some clothes. Lenny doesn't like to play dress up or wear costumes very often and he knows that a Veterinarian wears a jacket. That's what he is talking about when he says that he doesn't want to wear any clothes. It's funny because he says that every time and he is serious.