Posted by DW on February 2, 2012, 1:22 am
67.0.7.229
Some of you may recall we adopted an elderly cat from a shelter last August. He had been pulled aside for euthanasia but we took him. I guess we just interrupted a journey he was supposed to make.
It took him a while to get over the shelter crud but his blood work looked good and a dental was in order. In October he started drooling so we had the dental done. The doc noticed a lot of inflammation on the roof of his mouth around the bad teeth. It was odd enough she took a biopsy. Hachi had basal cell carcinoma which is normally a skin cancer. His life expectancy at that point was 3 months. (He made it through half of that.)
I had made an appointment to euthanize him on December 23rd which is dismal given the proximity to the holidays. In the meantime the vet had given us painkillers for him. In the week between the diagnosis and the appointment, he did really well. So I cancelled the appointment.
Last week, he was OK but very skinny and the associated symptoms were very noticeable and I was tempted to euthanize him during a Thursday appointment I already had set up. However, Ian was out of town and we prefer to do this sort of thing together, plus Ian wasn’t quite convinced.
Once Ian got home he agreed it was time and on Monday I set up an appointment for this coming Saturday.
Tuesday, although debilitated, Hachi as moving around begging for food and resting in the sunny spots. Wednesday morning he did not eat much but still moved around to find the morning sun. Wednesday evening he was on the bed in a kitty bed with Negrita (who will snuggle up to anything warm) and it was clear he would not make it to Saturday.
…Anyway, he was a good kitty, I think. I didn’t get to see his real personality because he was not feeling great most of the time he spent with us. He was kind to other cats. He always used his litterbox. He was a total pest once he figured out we’d put food down in front of him anytime he asked. He was not a snuggler and we think he would have liked to go outside but of course we can’t allow that in our coyote and hawk filled environment.
I wish I had sent him on with help from the vet last week, but he failed so utterly and so completely in less than a day,that I don’t feel too bad about it. I would count myself fortunate if I depart this world so quickly. Instantly is better, but this was not so terrible in view of how such things can go.
So, send Hachi bon voyage catnip in your thoughts. I am sad but we have so many four leggers that it’s becoming common place in our lives to say goodbye to one or two a year.
As an aside, a couple weeks after we got
I think Hachi had to be somewhere in time for the spring kitten season. Hopefully, it will not be back on my doorstep as we are full up.
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