Goodbye sweet LuLu

Today was a sad day for me, we had to have our outdoor kitty LuLu put down.



Lulu was named after the famous actress Lucille Ball

I bought Lulu for my husband at a local pet shop hoping she would turn out to be the Big Orange Fat cat he always dreamed of having, (Lucille Ball was not fat, but she had a personality bigger then life and that was what we hoped of Lulu and obviously they had a COLOR in common) the kind of kitty that would climb up around your neck and sleep. Lulu never ended up being the big fat orange cat OR even the curl up in your lap cat.  Lulu turned out to be a feral cat, she only hung around enough to get food, she loved to hang out with our dogs and lay in the sun with them.  BUT as soon as you reached out to try and pet her she would run about 10-15 feet away from you.  We did try making Lulu and indoor kitty for about a year, but she always found some place to hide most of the time and we finally decided to give her the freedom she wanted. 

Lulu and I had a good relationship until about a year ago when she decided to move around to my parents garage instead of hanging out on our patio.  (I was actually happy with this move, because it was a safer environment for her and the dogs couldn't get to her food, in addition during bad weather she was in a warmer space).  She used to let me pet her when I feed her, but once she made the move to the garage she no longer had a need for me or anyone because my dad keeps a automatic feeder in the garage.  However, over the past week we noticed that little Lulu was not really moving around a lot and would even allow us to pet her and hand feed her.  So today my parents took her to the vet and although the doctor couldn't find anything specifically wrong, Dad asked for her to be tested for feline leukemia.  Much to our surprise the doctor called back and said she didn't have feline leukemia, she had feline aids. 

So with great sadness, we agreed it was best for Lulu's quality of life and the safety of the other cats we have, that Lulu be put down.  Although she was not an affectionate kitty, she was still our beautiful outdoor kitty and if you could get her alone for a few minutes she managed to purr with a good rub, she will be missed.