tank you!

Tank you fur all your gifts, comments, rosettes, and messages on what would have been my 12th birthday. I am SO happy in heaven...I miss my mama but with GOD's help I sent her 2 kitties to replace me.

THANK YOU ALL

hi there

Well it's been ofur a year since I wrote. I've been a busy kitty up here in heaven, chasing mice, frolicking with ofur kitties, and just relaxing and enjoying things.

I wanted to say TANK YOU for my gifts! I get mouseburgers here all the time. If there are any of you kitties about to cross the bridge ofur to heaven, be sure to check out Mac's Mouseburgers. They're really good! Then there's also a place that sells hot dogs, but not made from dogs of course. (I dunno what they're made of) and a CATNIP ice cream stand....a restaurant with moles to eat and treats all the time....and best of all NO WEIGHT GAIN! So I can have a feast and not worry about getting fat! I will be glad to take any Rainbow Bridge kitties on a tour of heaven too.

I also have been to this neat toy store up in heaven that has balls, yarn, and ofur fun toys. They're all FREE and they won't hurt me if I ingest them.

OK I'm going to go and fly around fur a while.

Buster Kitty

no calendar picture

Well mama got the 2009 cat calendar today from Pageaday.com and the picture of me she submitted was NOT in there.

Only the Lord knows why that happened, but mama's sad that I didn't make it.

Oh well.

I need some company

I'm a lonely boy right now. Here I am sitting on a cloud, having the time of my life in heaven....but I don't have anyone visit me very often. Maybe some of you ofur kitties up here could come and pay me a visit? I love to play with mice, feast on catnip, and would WUV a female companion too.

Tanks!

Mr. Buster

a poem to my mama

Mama, dry your tears
and please don't cry for me....
Even tho you miss me
I am finally free....
Free from the pain and suffering
and the meds I had to take....
You did the best thing ever
with the choice you had to make...
Because of it, I'm in heaven
and young & healthy now...
I'm with the One who made me....
thank you mama - MEOW!

by Buster Keaton Van Etten
(with help from the Lord)

purraying

Mama has been so sad the last few days....and with the Lord's help together we are comfurrting her.

Mama wanted to add anofur kitty to her home, one who would take my place, but my sisfur is just the kind of cat who prefers to be the only one. Since I was a special needs kitty (for a few months anyway), she wanted to adopt a special needs kitty in my honor. But it was not meant to be.

But it's not really a bad thing....cuz the Lord has been telling mama to appreciate Greta instead of long for anofur one in addition to her.

I wish I could just go down there and sit next to her for a while, or lay next to her in bed, so she could feel my soft, pretty coat. Or feel the therapeutic vibration of my purrs, which weren't loud but were quite strong.

I love it so much here in heaven and wish I could bring her up here. But I'll visit her in her dreams and then she can be with me again! :)

Oh! I hear the sound of mice....fresh mice YUM what a breakfast!

Looky!

Looky everyone I HAVE MY WINGS!!! And aren't they booful!!

Now I can fly around heaven and better yet, watch over mama and my sister who's still on earth. Let me try something...

HEY GRETA! YOU BETTER NOT GIVE MAMA A HARD TIME OR I'LL BITE YOU!


Buster

I'm getting wings

I'm getting wings and I cannot wait to show them to mama!

Mama always did see me as a special little guy, and now she can soon see me as a special angel.

wow wow wow!

I have met so many friends here in heaven, at the rainbow bridge, I can't remember their names. I saw Domino, who looks a lot like me. He sure is a cute little guy. We've been going in some of the fields chasing mice. I never got to taste real mice until I arrived in heaven and let me tell you....they taste good!! YUM!

Rover invited me and my mama to a wonderful group. Rover's a really nice kitty. He said that he knew when his mama wasn't feeling good. Rover would get in his mama's lap. I was the same way except I was never a lap kitty, but I laid next to mama when she was sick or even taking a nap. She loved to stroke my soft, booful coat.

And I've even been corralled!!

I am such a happy and lucky little boy, and it's not even St. Patrick's Day!

Mama put up 2 more pics of me for you humans and kitties down on earth to enjoy. They're silly and mama says they show just what a silly boy I was. I hope you like them!

Buster

January 30, 2008.....

January 30, 2008 was the saddest day for my mama...but one of the happiest for me.

But first a history as to what led to that day's events.

You see, I'd been a sick little boy for about 2 1/2 months or more. I was diagnosed with congestive heart failure & fluid in the lungs back on November 16, 2007. I was a fat boy then and I weighed 25 lbs. the day mama took me. I was NOT feeling good that day, I breathed thru my mouth. I panted, I ate well and was playful but I was so full of fluid I couldn't get comfy and I cried. Mama couldn't get me to drink any water and when she gave me a dropperful, I panted. It broke mama's heart to see that happen. I looked into mama's eyes to let her know I was sick! Mama foolishly hadn't taken me to a vet in several years, but she did bring me to a vet as an emergency....thank the Lord.

When we got to the vet, I was scared but I was so sick that I didn't cry much. I just wanted all this fluid released from my body! It was making me feel all bloated up and not good at all. My mama cried rivers of tears because she thought I was a goner.

Mama originally wanted to have me put to sleep, because I'd been a fat kitty for such a long time...ever since my kittenhood....and she thought I wouldn't have a good quality life but the vet wouldn't do it and insisted on treating me. That helped me. I had to stay at the vet all afternoon....it was SO noisy with all the dogs barking (mama say they had a kennel in back) that it just scared me. And oh the constant handling!! (I don't like to be handled a lot.) They had to X-ray me, inject me with medication, and do all kinds of things.

When mama came to get me, I couldn't stop purring! I was so happy to get out of there! The vet gave me medication for my heart (Lasix) and mama had to give it to me every 12 hours.

I had to go back for a recheck 2 weeks later, and they said my lungs were normal which was good. But mama was very mad at my former vet when my new vet said I still had a heart murmur....6 years ago, the last time I saw a vet, the vet (a different one) said my heart murmur was healed, but alas it was still there. Little did mama know the murmur may have caused my heart failure.

I did good for about a month....I got sick around Christmas Eve but mama prayed for me and the Lord told her to give me a tiny piece of Ginger. It worked! I got up on mama's bed around 2 or 3am Christmas morning and purred to let her know I was all better!

I then started to relapse in January 2008. I had about 2 more weeks of good days. Then around January 22, 2008 I got sick again. I was starting to not drink as much and was feeling very sad and dumpy. Mama was very worried about me. She called her vet and they said they thought everything was fine, because I still ate and did drink but not as much as before....and I was still alert and playful. (You see, the Lasix I took made me drink lots more water than before and also made me pee more, to release fluid from my system.)

When January 23 arrived, I was still sick. Mama thought I'd be OK so she went to work. When she came home I still didn't feel good but I seemed happy, since I still purred for her loudly. I still didn't drink as much water as I did before. Mama even prayed that I'd drink regularly again and she was relieved the times I did drink. She almost took me to the ER vet that night but said she couldn't because she had to go to work the next day and fill in for her boss who hates cats. (HISSSSS boss!)

It was also around January 22 that mama started to notice I was back to breathing thru my mouth again. Mama tried to ignore it because I seemed to be doing OK. I still wasn't drinking like I did before and that worried mama.

Finally, the day of January 3o came. Mama went to work like always and when she left me I was purring and seemed content that morning, aside from my other difficulties.

That night when she came home, I was a VERY sick little boy.
I was dying. I was breathing thru my mouth and also panting again.
I didn't want ANYTHING to eat or drink. Even my favorite flavor of canned cat food didn't appeal to me. I was still a little bit playful, but I kept licking my chops. Mama tried to get me to drink and I just turned my head away. Same for my food. And mama knew once I wouldn't even eat my favorite kind of canned cat food, that it was time to take me to kitty heaven. She tried to console me but I was just so sick and I let her know, "it's time to let me go." Mama always promised me that when she saw me having these symptoms she wouldn't let me suffer, so I appreciated her keeping her word.

Mama got out the carrier for me and I got in it without a fight. She had to call a taxi to take me to the Emergency vet because her (human) brother refused to take her there, even though he lived less than 2 miles from the Emergency vet (the Emergency vet was about 5 or 7 miles from her home). Oh I hated that ride, the driver went too fast and that scared mama and me!

We got to the emergency vet safely (thank the Lord) and let them know the situation. Mama just cried and cried the whole time. I was somewhat alert but didn't say anything because I just was so sick.

Finally we got to the exam room and a vet came and checked me over. She too heard my heart murmur...mama told her the situation and the vet saw I was "breathing fast" as she called it. She consoled my mama and let her know she (mama) was doing the right thing. Mama did not want to watch them inject the needle into me, so she said one last goodbye....her last words to me were "Goodbye Buster, I'll always love you." I purred, to let her know I understood and was ready to go to heaven.

Then someone picked me up to take me away and I only cried a little bit because of that but I didn't put up the fight I did at my last vet trip (to my regular vet). I heard mama sobbing.

And so, shortly after that time, I don't remember what happened. The next thing I knew, I was in kitty heaven! It is SO beautiful up here. There are other cats and dogs. But they're not the least bit mean, they're all friendly! I saw some of mama's other kitties....Sugar, who got here in 1996....Tiggy, who came in 2005 (I think)....and 2 spry young kittens, one named Puff who arrived way back in the 1970s and Rusty, a 3 month old kitty who arrived in 1975.

God has let mama know that I am happy here, and to not cry over what she did, because I am now feeling so energetic and frisky! I'm not a fat boy anymore. I'm young and full of life. Oh mama, I hope you know how happy you made me and I hope you will be able to get over losing me. You will see me again very soon....I promise.

I love you mama.
Buster