Saying "So Long" to Mr. Sidders

Today was a hard day.

I've known for a while that it would soon be time to say goodbye to my fuzzer baby Sid. He was nineteen years old and in kidney failure, but he was also still eating and drinking and getting around okay. Every night, he'd jump up on my bed, sit right beside my shoulder, and stick his face into mine, sometimes offering a kiss or two, until I could convince him to settle in for some sleeping. And then he'd stay there all night, often times purring.

I've been waiting for Sid to give me a sign that let me know he was ready to go, and he did that last night.

I said goodbye to him this morning and it was incredibly difficult... but it was also the right thing to do. He's at peace now. I met him at the Confederate Woods Veterinary Hospital on my first day of work as a vet tech, so it seemed somehow fitting to say goodbye to him at the Confederate Woods Veterinary Hospital sixteen years later.

Sid was three when I got him. He'd been abandoned by his former owners (they didn't want to pay the bill after he'd been hit by a car) and then adopted by me... after much persuading. I was pretty fresh out of college and still living with my parents, and we already had six cats and two dogs under that roof. That last thing my mom felt we needed was another animal, but I knew with every bit of my heart that Sid and I were supposed to be together. And I was right.

He spent a good chunk of his first year in the basement at my parents' house, hiding from the dogs and keeping my little brother company while he played computer games. At night, when my dad got home from work and heated up his dinner to eat at the kitchen counter while watching NCIS, Sid would sneak upstairs and alternate between untying my dad's shoes and hopping onto the counter to spill his water. When he was young, Sid absolutely loved to overturn water glasses; they fascinated him.

Siddy McPhee was the most loving pet I've ever had. He never hissed when a new cat came into the home and he never really did anything wrong. Sid didn't get hairballs or throw up. He didn't mark his territory and get annoyed with the other pets. He maybe clawed the furniture a bit, but it wasn't much. His only illnesses (beyond that initial HBC) were an ear infection and an abscess that required a dental. He was just... incredibly loving. And I will miss him so much.

I told him today before he left, "I'm pretty sure Heaven has a basement, and I'm pretty sure Pip is down there playing computer games. Say 'hey' for me, wouldja?"