Cloud was born on April 3, 2008 to Little Lady. He had a black and white sister, Toto, and a completely black brother, Zack. He was born in my sister's room on the quiet side of the bed.



When he was a few months old, I began to teach him his name. Instead of calling 'Cloud!' I would always call out 'Cloudy!' and he would come running. His favorite toy was a blue mouse which I named Jerry. The spot he loved to sleep in the most was my bed, but he eventually began finding new spots to sleep in. When I stayed up late some nights playing video games, he would walk into the living room and get into my lap. He always 'made bread' when he did, but I grinned and beared it.



I remember in October of 2008 when we had come home from a trip to Charleston he came bounding in my room with his tail held high. He jumped up on my bed and greeted me. He would always greet me when I came home and called out his name.



In June 2009, I took him for his first vet visit. The first time he went right into the carrier, but every time after that was dreaded. Whenever we were safely in the car I would open up the carrier and let him sleep on my lap. This comforted him, I think. He loved peaking out the window at all the goings-on outside the vehicle. It was adorable!



That summer, when my dad was haymaking, my sister had made this huge tub of Gatorade and placed it on the table. My mother was going to take it to the men in the field later on. Cloud happened to be sitting by the window when she picked it up by the top handle. The tub spilled over, even onto my cat. For a few weeks after that, Cloud had pink feet. 



In February 2009 we noticed that he had begun to stop eating. When we took him to the vet she said he had something wrong with his teeth. We left him at the vet so they could pull the two teeth. Even after his teeth were pulled he still didn't improve so we took him back on March 16. She did bloodwork on him and came back into the room with horrible news. Cloud had chronic kidney failure and he was in end stage. She said he probably didn't have long to live. I was heartbroken. My poor little baby.



We were given an IV and were told to give him 50ccs in the morning and 50ccs at night. She also gave us these shots that were to help him with the nausea. At the beginning of April, we took him back to the vet because I had began to notice a foul odor coming from his mouth and bright red blood as well. When the vet checked it out she said he had a mouth ulcer. We were given Clindamycin and an Oral Mouth Rinse. She also prescribed to us vanilla Ensure mixed with clam juice for the stomach ulcers he might have.



On April 28 he began to act odd. A few hours after giving him the IV I noticed this huge wet spot on my pillow. It was urine so I took it off to be washed. Later on I noticed Cloud lying on his side holding his mouth open and panting. This continued through the day. We still gave him his IV and everything prescribed to him. This caused him to urinate on most of my bed so I slept poorly on the couch that night. The next morning he was worse off and that's when I knew that this was it.



His last few hours of life were good. His sister had had a litter of kittens in early March and his niece, the only girl, crawled onto my bed and laid next to him. My dad and I had to carry him outside on a cloth because being held hurt him. He seemed to perk up for a bit which made me happy. We then placed him on the couch.



My father had left for a funeral and I was left at home alone with my sister. Cloud began to squall as if something was hurting him so I quickly called the vet. While I was on the phone with her, Cloud got up and began to shake violently. I recognized it as a seizure and caught him before he fell off the couch. I placed him onto the cloth he was laying on. Finally, he took one last breath and he was gone. This was April 29, 2010 at 11:43 am.



I began to cry 'My baby, my baby!' which woke my sister. She was devastated when she saw him on the couch. She never got to see him alive one last time. I held him in my arms and kissed his head, whispering 'I love you' to him, and then covered him with the cloth.



That evening, we had a funeral service for him. My dad had hand-made a box for him. I asked each member of the family to write down something about Cloud and we put it into the box with him. Everyone in the family had a nickname for him. My dad called him Cloudy Day, my mother called him Cloudy, my sister called him Mr. Cloud, and I called him Cloudy Baby. When our little service was over I stayed in the cemetery a while longer and talked to him. I placed blue and white flowers by his grave, the same color as him.



Cloud was was my baby and I'll see him at the Rainbow Bridge, then we can cross it together. We can spend eternity with each other and we'll never be separated again.



Love you, Cloudy Baby!