Breaking Some Bad News

Today I had to prepare my four-year-old Luke for tomorrow. Ermie, our 17-year-old cat, will go to the doctor. I do not expect her to survive. Luke has understood this day is coming within his limited knowledge.

"Mom, I don't want Ermie to go to the doctor and get a shot."

"I know sweetie. But everything will be okay. Sweetheart, sometimes when kitties are older they start to give us signs that they are failing. Have you ever seen Ermie barf?"

"Yes."

"How many times?"

"Um, a hundred?"


"Right. Do you know what that means?"

"She can't have any food?"

"Well, almost. Her stomach and intestines are not working right. Now what happened yesterday?"

"Umm..."

"She peed. She peed right in the middle of your bed because she woke up confused and didn't know where she was. Do you want her to pee on your bed while your sleeping in it?"

"No-WAH"

"Right. Her body is telling us that her bladder is not working any more. It's just going to get worse, sweetie. Here [picks up Olive, our 1-year-old cat], feel Olive's tummy. What is it like?"

"It's soft and furry and kind of hard."

"Now what about Ermie?"

"It's soft, but hard with that weird stuff."

"Those are her hip bones and her ribs, honey. She's so skinny, she's losing too much weight because her body isn't doing its job. Can you feel that?"

"Yeah." He lets out a sigh.

"You know what? I had many, many cats. There was Little Girl, she got bit by a rattlesnake and died because of its venom. Then I got two kittens, Kitchen and Pumpkin-"

"Pumpkin? That's funny!"

"-Yes, Pumpkin. They lived to be about two or three. They got to go outside and they were eaten by coyotes. They died, too."

"That's too bad."

"Yes, it is. Then I got another kitten, Boo-Boo. He got eaten by a coyote, too!"

"Aw, man!"

"Then there was Bitsy and she was a very nice cat until Paco found some kittens and brought them home. Remember how Ermie was so grumpy when we brought Olive home?"

"Yes!"

"Well, Bitsy was super grumpy and never acted nice again, so she decided to move into my neighbor's house. She was happy and they were happy so it was fine, we let them have her. Can you guess who the kittens were?"

"Olive?"

"No, not Olive. One was Bubba. He lived with us for three years and then he decided to start peeing on the stove so Paco said that cat had to leave! The other kitten was...Ermie."

"Ermie?"

"Yup, Ermie. I loved her and I fed her and we didn't just get her for three years or four or five. How many years have we had her? How old is she?"

"Seventeen!"

"We have been super lucky to have her for that many years, Luke! She has been such a good kitty and if she were going to get better, I would do anything I could to help her."

"She's old like Grandma Vera?"

"That's right. She's getting old. She's slower, she hurts. Do you think she likes barfing all the time? How do you feel when you barf? Don't you feel awful, just awful?"

"Yeah..."

"Well, that's how Ermie feels."

Long Pause.

"I don't want her to feel bad. Sometimes vets give animals medicine so they don't hurt anymore and can just go to sleep. But you know what sweetie? One day God is going to make her new again. She won't be old and hurting, she'll be young and beautiful and happy again, just like Olive is now!"

"How?!"

"Well, one day Jesus is going to come back and get all of his people (no, I'm not talking about the remnant of the remnant, so relax) and take us with him. People won't be sad or sick or old or tired there. We will be healthy! Ermie will not be sick anymore!"

"You mean God will fix her? When he comes back?" And she will be fixed? And new again?

"Yup."

[Luke sits there pondering what's just been said.]

"Oh...I just love that, mom," he says, as his eyes overflow with tears and he reaches out to hug me.

"Me too, sweetie."

"Is that a tear? You have a tear like I do, mom."

"Yes, I do."