Never, ever take your Furry Friends for Granted

Well, today did not turn out as I expected when I got up this morning. My plan was an 11 AM visit to the Vet and then a trip up to Asheville for a few nights.

My sweet, sweet Shadow had to go to the vet. Before I left for Vegas, I had already made him an appointment for this morning. (That made life easy for all of us- take both kitties to see the Vet when I went in to get Figs from being boarded for five nights while we were gone.)

Figaro, as many of you know, has been sick for several years. He was maybe 27 lbs a few years ago and is now down to 14. Constantly vomiting, and until a recent change in diet, often things were messy on the other end, too. He's been on anti-throw up medicine for at least two years, but he's on tons more now than he used to be. A year ago Christmas, we found out his heart was going haywire, but he got on heart pills and that seems to be regulated. He's probably about 13 or 14 now, so, hey, his body is getting old. He makes such a mess that during the day he has a fenced in indoor play area with food, water, and a litter box. That's so that when I get home from a day of work, there aren't literally three or four accidents to clean up all over the house. Just in his little area. It's also so he wouldn't eat Shadow's food which always made him sick. His visit to the vet this morning was to get checked for hypo-thyroidism. Something my vet suspects, but hasn't yet shown up in blood work. If still nothing shows up, he'll go on prednisone in case it's irritable bowel syndrome. That's the only "treatment" for that other than the diet he's already on. So, if yesterday afternoon during the plane ride home you had asked me which kitty will be around longer, without hesitation I would have said Shadow.

Shadow's vet visit was planned because he hadn't had much appetite lately. At first I figured he was being his usual finicky self and turning his nose up on the latest food choice- an expensive vet recommended "low residue" food that was fine for Shadow, but less upsetting for Figs' sensitive digestive system for when he ate Shadow's food. But I noticed at the end of last week that Shadow had been a lot less active than usual, and he had really stopped being interested in food. So, before we left I made the appointment for him, left him with everything he'd need while we were gone (including a pile of my clothes so he'd be able to cuddle up with my smell), and had Bevin check in on him while we were gone.

As soon as I got home last night, I knew things were worse. Typically when returning from a vacation, he'd meet me at the door, and stretch up on his hind legs meowing so I'd pick him up. Last night, he did purr, but he wasn't even getting up out of his sleeping spot on my clothes. It didn't even look like he'd taken a single bite of the food I left out for him. Later, while on my lap, I noticed he had really, really labored breathing, and thought about how much weight he'd lost in just a week. His legs even felt like apathy had started. He was all the sudden weak and his body felt like he was an old cat. He's really just about 8, though. Not old at all- especially for a cat that was indoors 95% of his life.

At the Vet's this morning, I could see immediate concern on my Vet's face as she listened to Shadow's breathing. She took him back for chest x-rays, and came back without Shadow, and with a sad look about her. She showed me bloody fluid she had just extracted from my baby's lungs. No wonder he was having trouble breathing. Later she told me she extracted about 13 mils of fluid this morning, and then around noon, figured she'd extracted about double that. Shadow also had a mass and fluid in his abdomen, and a really high white blood cell count. She suspects a cancerous tumor that metasisized with a secondary bloody tumor that was the source of the fluid in his lungs. She very compationately explained that there was nothing that she could do for him, and that if she sent him home for one last night at home, we should expect to have to call the ER vet during the night when he went into respiratory duress. The regular vet has no one there at night, so there would be no one to help him there. With how fast his lungs filled back up this afternoon, she truly felt things would only get worse and he would get more and more uncomfortable. So I had to decide to let my baby Shadow go to sleep one last time around 6PM tonight. Janelle, Ben, my Dad and I all gathered around to say goodbye. Little, weak, hurting Shadow perked up, recognized us, and purred just as much as he could. He was really happy we'd all come to say hi. Then everyone except the two doctors and I left, and the doctor gave him the injection as I petted him and comforted him and watched him go to sleep. He's not in pain anymore, and things won't get any worse for him. I hope he knows how much his Mommy loves him and will never, ever forget him.