Goodbye Sweet Zoey Girl

How do I say "goodbye" to the first girl that made me a mommy. . even if only a pet mommy?  Today was had to make the tough decision that noone wants to have to make.  The decision to let our Zoey girl go to heaven even though we weren't ready to let go.

I still remember the day that Matt and I bought Zoey, at a little pet shop in Cedar Falls, Iowa.  I was still living in the dorms and Matt was living in an apartment in Rock Falls, Illinois.  We snuck sweet kitten Zoey into the dorms in a baseball bag for a night so that Matt could take her home the next day.  Sweet kitten loved to play so much. 

We often laughed and called Zoey a dog because she would chase the mice that Matt and his roomate would throw for her, retrieve them, and bring them back.  She was so happy to please anyone that would play with her.  Matt and Zoey were extremely close because she lived with him and his roomate, Martin, for a year and a half before Matt and I moved to Peoria. 

After moving to Peoria we brought home Milo (cat) and shortly after we brought home Tucker (dog).  Just before moving to Lafayette we brought home Bailey (dog).  Zoey was not thrilled with all the additions and became less sweet to strangers that came into our house.  She was always amazing with Matt, Brooklyn, and me though.  Apparently she didn't quite realize that we brought these animals home.

A few months after moving back from Belgium Zoey started vomiting a lot more than "normal".  We found a food that seemed to work well for her for awhile, but then that stopped working too.  A month or so ago we noticed a sore over Zoey's eye. . and recently a lump on her side followed by one of her eyes not opening completely. 

On Friday the vet speculated that Zoey had an infection.  Her kidney and liver function was still perfect via blood test.  Unfortunately she couldn't hold the medicine down or any of the wet food they perscribed her with.  She started totally refusing food and all of us were getting worried.  The vet did xrays today and diagnosed Zoey with some type of lymphoma with intestines 9 - 10 times normal size.  It was clear that Zoey's life was near it's end . . .and we didn't want her to be in pain so we made the terrible decision to send Zoey to heaven. 

Brooklyn is pretty shaken up about it.  She only stops crying intermitently before heading right back into tears.  She decided to make her a goodbye card and with some spelling help made the following:

We all really loved you sweet Zoey girl.  I'm sorry your last days were not as good as your previous years.  We love you so much and our family is less complete with you gone. 

We hope that Zoey and Crackers (my childhood cat) are playing together in heaven.  Maybe Great Grammy is throwing mice for them to chase. . . have fun sweet cats. . .we miss you!!!!

Goodbye sweet Zoey girl. . .goodbye!  We loved you so much.