Cats who fight death

I had a cat named Serena. She was diagnosed with lymphoma. The vet told me with chemo - she might last six months. Without it - she'd be gone inside a month. I opted for chemo. She lasted another three really good years. Became the star at the oncology center. Everyone was amazed by her. She'd start to flag - we'd all prepare ourselves to lose her - her chemo doc would adjust her meds and she'd rally. Amazing little fighter. Finally, she shut down overnight and I put her to sleep. The best cat ever.

the only 'symptoms' my Mouse had were lack of eating & vomiting [anti-vomiting meds were ineffective]. she laid around a lot, but she was a fairly sedentary cat anyway. she didn't hide, tho.

This thread made me sad, and reminded me how scared I am of losing my 11 year old female cat, that's been with me through the toughest times of my life. Oh what I would do without her.....I don't know what to do, when that day comes, that she....ugh

Our family cat Gracie literally 'fought' us when we were trying to PTS.

Sad story, be warned...

In the fall of '05 at 13 (almost 14) years of age she started to waste away. Her chest got really pronounced and the vet dsicovered she had a chest full of fluid. We tapped her once to remove the pressure on her breathing, but since all the likely causes weren't good (cancer, heart problems, or hypertension)we decided to let her enjoy her last few months in peace.

Of course her chest filled again and 2 months later I was at work when Mom called. She startled Gracie while cleaning and she just couldn't catch her breath and was open mouth breathing real hard. Mom felt guilty about this for a long time 'cause if she hadn't woken her up she probably wouldn't just gone in her sleep. Luckilly a technician was still at the animal hospital where I worked and with the Dr.'s okay we brought her in after appointment hours.

Gracie never liked the car ride or the Vet's office but she was still going though clearly uncomfortable. When we tried to hold her down to shave her leg and get the needle in she clawed her way up our shoulder and clung to my back (open mouth breathing all the while). We had to hold her down. She was still spunky until they got the injection in, only then the light went out in her eyes.

She was the best cat in the world.

Baby ( 1/98 ) was dying before my eyes from acute kidney failure brought on by stress. He had to have been in terrible pain, and very very sick. And yet, when the vet leaned forward to inject him, he fought. Baby fought to live, in spite of the way he was suffering. It was a devastating experience, even though I tell myself his reaction was instinctual, not intellectual, it was terrible.

Thinking of the moment, and my sense of devastating loss after he was gone, still brings me to tears.

Some of you have read my "Love and Cheese Danish" stories. When mine are acutely ill or have been diagnosed with a terminal illness, I use my Love and Cheese Danish treatment on them and they magically start fighting to live, and often become more friendly than they had before their illness.

It started when my 12 year old dog was diagnosed with aggressive cancer. They removed the bulk of the tumor and gave her 30 days to live. Since the cancer was in the roof of her mouth, we switched her immediately to tasty (junk food) canned food. She loved it. So we put it on a plate and fed it to her while she lounged on the sofa (something we hadn't done before). One morning we were eating cheese danish and she asked for some so we gave it to her. She loved it more than the canned food so we ate a lot of cheese danish after that. Then we slept on the floor with her (we'd wake up to find her on the sofa and we'd be hurting from the floor). We found out that she loved it when we sang to her so we started to sing to her all the time. She loved the special treatment so much that she lived another 18 months and finally died from a severe stroke.

My Bob Marley was recently diagnosed with cancer and given 2-3 weeks to live. We're going on about 2 months now and I would say that he is more friendly and loving than he's been in his entire life. He's on the Cheese Danish treatment right now (Purina Cat Chow and I'm catering to his demand of sitting outside on the deck in the sun).

Stumpy has been chronically ill since he was 18 months old. He turns 15 years old next month. When we finally gave into his demands for dog food kibble (it is high quality), his disease went into remission for the first time in 4 years. Dog food is his cheese danish.

Love and Cheese Danish comes down to this: when they are getting close to their time, simply give them what they want, even if its not something entirely healthy that you would have never dreamed of giving them. Sometimes you have to stumble on their cheese danish, but it's worth your time to figure it out.

Scully was the opposite, he was sick from the day I got him with various things, the vet recommended euthanising him when we got him, and gave him 6 months if we didn't. We couldn't do Amy's cheese danish treatment since he needed to diet to get better. He did get better in time, he lost weight and most of his illnesses cleared up (were in remission or managed, however the vet wants to put it to say it could come back) but when he passed, he went quickly and was clingy, didn't leave my side which was nothing new for him

Oh my God, I cried reading all your stories, touched my heart.

I will share mine...

10 years ago, we had a ginger shorthaired cat. He was a stray, and sort of adopted us. We looked after him, fed him, and he became part of the family, but still stayed out for long times. He went through hell while he was a stray, being kicked around by kids local, punched in the face, all sorts of torment. We free'd him from that as we became his family, but one day, he went out and never returned.... 2 days later I heard scratching outside our door, almost dead, he had been hit by a car.

I picked him up in my arms, and by the time I reached the end of the hall, he was gone

I remember him suddenly going limp and tears to my eyes burst out, while he was in my arms, I felt so sad. I tried to give him mouth to mouth, all sorts (I didn't care where he had been!!). Later that day, I broke the law, I buried him in our back garden. It's a crime here, but that's my little secret.

I'll never forgot that day, it broke my heart. The last moments of his life were in my arms.... but he was strong, to stay alive as long as he did, he was in terrible state, crushed quite badly, but still able to move while he crawled slowly near the door and his paw slowly trying to still scratch the door while I opened it.

Oh god......I'm going to cry again. I miss him dearly!!

That sound you hear is my heart breaking.