This is a two-way story (both cat and humans benefit) and it is a warm, generous story of love. Tigger has a bucket list of things to do before he dies. He was given the list by two loving owners who adopted him from a veterinary hospital where he was abandoned.
The loving owners are Adriene Buisch and her boyfriend Michael who read about Tigger’s predicament on Facebook. I have to comment by asking who would abandon their cat at a veterinary hospital because he was old and ill? Is that actually possible? It seems to be mindless and heartless but perhaps we don’t have the full story. I can’t believe that we have the full facts.
No matter, Adriene and Michael decided to make his last days as good as possible. This is in the style some well-known terminally ill people who have maxed-out their lives by doing the things that they dreamt of doing when they were well. There’s a moral there.
When Tigger was abandoned his fur was matted, he had kidney failure (a common feline terminal disease – why?) and multiple cancer tumours. He was beyond surgery. He was on the way to life’s check out desk.
Adriene and Michael appear to have adopted Tigger with the objective of making the remainder of his life as full as possible. They created a bucket list for their beloved Tigger.
Adriene said:
“He’s a love bug. We crack up because his body is 21 but we swear his mind is 2…”
In a desire to fill Tigger’s remaining days with the best in excitement and fun they compiled the bucket list and documented it on Facebook. I think in this instance documenting it on FB is useful as it promotes better care of elderly and infirm cats.
Tigger is laid back and likes being outside exploring and meeting people it seems to me so he was taken to the beach (see photo) which he enjoyed. And he’s been on a road trip to Washington (did he enjoy that?). He has had a stroll in the neighbourhood (I presume on a leash) and his next adventure will be a blind date with a female. He’ll also be going on a boat ride with his own “floatation device”.
The tricky part of a bucket list for cats is making sure you know what he likes. Adriene knows he likes the outside:
“He’ll strut his stuff down the sidewalk and there’s people everywhere, dogs, so we definitely think he’s had exposure to the outside,” Buisch said. “We’ve walked around for nearly two hours because he was loving it so much. He’s been rambunctious lately, but on the upside, he loves mommy.”
Tigger has a following on Facebook. The cute part of this story is that two people are trying to maximise the life experiences of a very old, dying cat. There is still plenty of fun for both cat caretaker and old cat. The previous owners failed to realise this.
But there will come a time when the fun ends and the serious stuff begins: when to let him go over the rainbow bridge. That is a difficult decision and it is all about the cat. All human desires are secondary.
Tigger has given joy to his human companions and received it in return.
Source of story: Washington’s Top News.
Thanks Lynne for your kind comment.
God bless this couple who gave this cat a loving life until he crosses over the rainbow bridge. Those that had him before were horrible people with no excuse for what they did to him. Animals have been given to us to love and protect and give back for what God has given to us. May this beautiful animal, with his hew parents, be a miracle and make his diagnosis wrong in the way that his new parents have increased his life with these new owners and happiness for all with their love between them, the cat and his owners. God Bless these beautiful people for what they have done and are doing.
Thanks Ellen. It is essentially a good story. There are two sides to it, the good and the bad.
This is an amazing story. I’ve heard people locally given up their cats and dogs simply because they no longer fit their lifestyle or were aging out and didn’t want to be emotional, never mind how that cat not dog felt. Watch it Triggers going to live for years more. 21 is a very long life for a cat, yes? At any rate this is pretty fantastic. I’d love to give the old boy a kiss…but they can do it for me my male cat would get jealous lol
This is so nice. I think the cat has lived so long because he is a laid back cat. I think animals and humans who are chronically stressed out end up with shorter lives. There is some scientific basis for this as our telomeres do shorten faster when we are under stress. Telomere length is a pretty good indicator of mortality. We can slow their shortening but once they are shortened nothing can add to their length.
My sister’s cat Kobe was a stressed out cat his whole life and we don’t really know why. He was just high strung and easily stressed. His former owners were not very good to him and he spent most of his time hiding in a closet from their other pets, who bullied him and chased him. Kobe’s guardians did realize that life hidden in a closet was not right for him so they allowed us to keep him when they moved out.
Kobe just passed away at 17 1/2 and apparently on his bucket list was meowing loudly at everything that ever frightened him. Right before he died he became a different cat. He had been skittish and fearful his whole life, but suddenly he was able to march right up to my husband and chew him out and the running vacuum cleaner and give that a piece of his mind as well. The vet who came to the house to euthanize him said sometimes they get a burst of steroids near the end. So that is why humans and animals sometimes seem to rally right before they die.
Had our father not been in hospice we probably would have euthanized Kobe sooner. The signs were there that he was not doing well anymore and his time was running out. But it was a hard time to make that difficult decision. I’m glad it worked out as it did because in that short time before Kobe died, when he seemed not only to be doing better but to be braver, he was in reality getting ready to die. He faced his fears. He played in the basement again. He had not asked to go down there in a long time, but Jen made sure Monty was in our apartment and opened her door for Kobe. I met him on the steps and he didn’t bolt, but just continued his exploration.
I think if we too quickly end an animal’s life, supposedly to help them avoid suffering, we might take away the time they need to prepare to die. There is a push to provide euthanasia for humans and I am, for the most part, against it. My dad rallied before he died too. Had euthanasia been available to spare him suffering it would have done that, certainly, but it would also have deprived him of that little season to prepare himself for the end of his earthly life. Since animals and humans get that little burst of improvement before the end I think it is something needful for all of us. However, once that time ends and the rapid deterioration sets in, then euthanasia could be a kindness. I think the timing is difficult when you consider ending an individual’s life before their natural life span is over, even if you mean well by doing it.
I agree with what Michael has said before– killing animals because the shelter is full is not euthanasia. It’s just killing. And to just dump off an elderly, sick animal is horrible. We may have had trouble deciding when to euthanize Kobe. It would have been better had we been able to get the vet there sooner. But we knew that we were going to be with him when he passed. He was not going to die alone. He was going to go in the arms of the human who loved him the most. Love hurts sometimes, but if you really love an animal you will take care of them in their old age, even when they start getting confused and can’t find the litter box, even when they wake you up crying at night, even when you know you have to say good bye and it hurts so bad– you don’t walk away. You stay with them because they always were there with you.
Thanks for caring and sharing*