Burrito

 I seem to have a knack for taking pictures right before impending disaster. I took this picture only a couple of hours before the incident.

We literally tell Lou "Gentle!" and "Two hands!" a dozen times a day, and most of the time she does pretty well, but at other times she just gets too excited. She never maliciously hurts the kitties, she just doesn't understand that she's too rough. 

 

I catch her all the time squealing with glee and giving the kitties big squeezes. We try to explain that big squeezes hurt them and she can't squish them that hard. A couple of times I noticed that she tried to hug them when they were on the ground...which was pretty much her just laying on the them or sitting on them. She will even say, "Huh (hug) kitty!" 

I was making lunch and she was behind me on the floor with one of the kitties. I have no idea how long she sat there...too long...but when I turned around she was happily "hugging" Burrito by sitting on him...with her little expression of happiness she gets whenever she sees the kitties. I pulled her off him and noticed that he had peed a little on the floor. She's constantly squishing the kittens so I didn't think a thing of it. I asked Peaches to take him to the litter box. She did and I thought that was that. 

 T came in for lunch a few minutes later through the laundry room and noticed that Burrito was laying in the litter box not moving. It was then that I realized she had truly squished him. :{ He was breathing, but wouldn't really move or respond except to lay his head down if we tried to pick it up.

Our good friend is the town vet so I texted him and asked what to do. He said to bring him in right away so I left T and the girls to eat lunch and ran him to town. In hindsight I should have realized how serious it was and had the girls say goodbye, but I still didn't think, at that point, that a one year old could unintentionally hurt a kitten that badly.

He laid quietly on my lap the whole way to the vet and a couple times while I was waiting he perked up and looked at me with bright eyes, but I noticed that his breathing was getting a little jerky. 

 

Dr. T came in and looked at him and explained a couple of things that could have happened. He took him away for an x-ray, and when he came back he said that his organs were all in tact and nothing was broken, but the frontal lobes of his lungs were crushed/bruised consistent with suffocation. :( :( :( She wasn't covering his face, but apparently the amount of pressure she was putting on his chest was too great. 

Dr. T gave him a steroid to reduce swelling quickly and put him on oxygen. He suggested that I leave him with them for the afternoon. He let me know that it was pretty serious and we might have to make the decision to put him down.

A couple hours later he called and told me that Burrito had passed on his own. :'{ I was thankful that we didn't have to make that difficult decision, but of course the girls were heartbroken. They were also mad at Lou even though we tried to explain that it was an accident and she didn't do it on purpose or to be mean. 

The girls made a sweet burial box. Bug did the rainbow covering and Peaches made this picture of her and Burrito.

Peanut made a sign and a rainbow for the front and back.

 

 

We buried him under the lilac tree the next morning. The little ones didn't understand what was going on. 

The girls have never been to a funeral or, as far as I know, seen one on TV so I was surprised when they asked if they could throw some dirt on the box.

 

 

We talked about forgiveness, and each of them said they forgave Lou even though it was hard. We also talked about the fact that this world is not our home and even though it is such a hard thing to lose a sweet kitty like Burrito, it is a good reminder that we need to do everything we can to live for God's glory for the short time we have on this Earth. 

 

I also explained that one time I heard Beth Moore say that our souls were created to be eternal so when someone dies our soul is crying out, "This was supposed to last forever!" Another good reminder that this world is not our home. They didn't feel better right away, but I noticed that our little service was a turning point for them.

Buggy made a cake for Burrito afterwards.

Unfortunately one of the hardest things about it all was that Lou has no idea what she did and keeping Queso away from her has been quite a chore. The only way to for sure keep him safe is to keep him in his cage which makes him meow sadly. So pretty much someone is holding him at all times other than when Lou is sleeping and we all feel safe enough to let him loose. 

 

Queso has been the other hard part. He didn't understand where his brother went and for a couple of days would wander around the house meowing and seeming to search for him. :(  He also had a hard time sleeping at night because they slept cuddled up together all the time. We had them outside in the garage since they could keep each other warm, but we had to move Queso inside again so he wouldn't freeze. I feel so bad for the little guy. He probably misses his brother more than all of us combined.

Goodbye sweet Burrito. Thanks for bringing us joy for the short time you were with us.