On my way to town yesterday, about a mile from my house, I saw a stray cat in the road ahead of me. It was very thin, walking very slowly, and I could see a red mass protruding from its butt. When I came back home, I baited our humane live trap and set it where I had last seen the cat. I thought I would more likely catch a possum or skunk instead of the cat, but when I checked the trap this morning the cat was in it.
I took the cat straight to the vet clinic, where it was sedated and examined. I was hoping this was a female cat with a prolapsed uterus, because that could likely be fixed by spaying. Unfortunately, it was a male cat with a severely prolapsed colon that already had some visible necrosis. The vet said the prolapse was most likely the result of a very heavy parasite load that caused unremitting diarrhea. He thought it would be very difficult to fix this and it had a very poor prognosis. In fact he said he had never seen a prolapse this bad on a cat. He said euthanasia was the only humane choice.
This little death made me cry. Such a sad little life, and I couldn’t help. I took the body home and we buried him with our other pets. When we buried him I was hearing the old Bob Dylan song:
“I see my light come shining
From the west down to the east
Any day now, any day now
I shall be released.”
