New to this site - Just lost my little guy. Looking for support/advice.

lovemykittehs

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Hello all... New to the forums and this website.. I guess I am on here just looking for some kind of support. I am not one to generally "reach out" to anyone, but I am having an extremely difficult time dealing with the loss of my lil man, Shizzy. I had to make the difficult decision of putting him down on November 20th at the young age of 10.
He was my everything and I am so completely lost without him. I don't have any friends or family for support as I moved away on my own in May and I just thought I would come on here and see if this will help me cope a bit better, in terms of dealing with the loss of a cat as everyone on here can obviously relate, and hopefully offer some advice.

I APOLOGIZE in advance if this gets to be long!

In 2003, when Shizzy was 3 years old he was hospitalized with fatty liver disease. We got the best result possible out of a bad situation and he made a complete turnaround after only being in the hospital for 2 days. Now, fast forward to just these past few weeks ... I had noticed Shizzy was coughing, maybe once or twice a week and thought nothing of it. I figured it was a hairball that he was trying to cough up. Though nothing ever came up. Then I ended up going out of town for a few days.. I came home to find that Shizzy felt alot lighter when I picked him up and that he had definitely lost weight (he was a big boy). The food I left out was hardly touched, between him and his brother, which I thought was odd. I was more aware then, and kept an eye on him, noticing that he wasn't eating as much and was coughing more frequent - maybe 3x per day. I decided to look online to see what it could be and seen that it could possibly be Asthma. I then became very worried and booked an appointment with the vet for the following day.

That day at the vet they performed a general exam - he was always an overweight cat - he was weighed in @ 18 lbs (even after losing of weight), took two x-ray views, and felt his stomach for any abmornalties. The vet figured it was just lyrngitis as the x-ray looked fine. I told the vet he had a history of fatty liver and he said his organs all looked normal on the x-ray. So he gave him a cough suppresant shot and I was sent home with antibiotics. I was told to feed him wet cat food for a week or so as it'd be more comfortable for him to eat. That visit cost me $250.

Well I took him home and he was great that night, I went out the following day to buy him wet cat food, fed him and he threw it up an hour later. He turned very sickly, almost deathly within hours. I was very frustrated as I had a feeling walking out of the vet that they should have done a blood test. I ended up staying up all night with Shizzy, as he drank water excessively and threw it up right after. He could hardly walk, and every time that he did get up from lying down was only to drink and pee, constantly. I called the emerg vet @ 2am and contemplated bringing him in, but with my situation it was pretty impossible. He puked about 5-6x that night.

I noticed jaundice the next day and brought him in right away. The vet told me he'd keep him on fluids and have him hospitalized. I figured he'd pull through again, but it was much worse this time. The blood results came back the following day and I was told that he not only had fatty liver, but also developed diabetes and kidney failure as well. I visited him for two days in the hospital but he was not making much improvement. I was a complete wreck and still am, especially having to go through this by myself - no job, no car, had to bus and cab it there every day - very stressful.

Anyway, I kept him alive for two days because I wasn't ready to let him go right away. I knew I couldn't afford to bring him home, even if he did improve. I can't afford to take care of a cat with diabetes and kidney failure. Also every day that he was hospitalized was a fee of over $100 - DAILY. So I called the vet up and told him to just put him down. I was originally going to go in and be there with him during the euthanazia, but I don't think I could put myself through that..it'd be way to hard on me. I am thankful for my visits with him even though he did not seem happy to see me.
In the end, I was left with a $1200 vet bill and I couldn't even have my lil guy. Shizzy was the sweetest cat I've ever known or met - everyone loved him and couldn't get over how sweet and friendly he was, anytime I brought him into the vet he purred like crazy and would let the vet do whatever they wanted to him. He was the loudest purr and the nicest demenor. He's my lil angel.

Shizzy left a brother behind who I'm sure is missing him, but he does know show it. Has anyone else experienced this? I find it odd - his brother, Smokey, is 12 and has had Shizzy around everyday for those 10 years of Shizzy's life..they were inseperable..yet he seems to not even be fazed by his absence?

What I am trying to get at is, I do not want Smokey to end up having to go through what Shizzy did. I fed my cats dry food all their life, now I did some research only to find that this is killing my cats? How do I incorporate wet canned food into Smokey's life - do I feed ONLY wet food, no dry? Or can I feed dry half part of the day, the other half wet? Do I need to completely eliminate dry food? Just looking to see what everyone on here is doing... Also, what are some good brands to feed? I did complete the veterinary assistant course a few years back, so I do know what to look for in cat food brands as far as the ingrediants go, and have been feeding them chicken and brown rice dry food.

If you have read this far - THANK YOU SO MUCH, I really do appreciate it.

Thanks in advance for those who can give me a little insight on this!
 
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lovemykittehs

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Also, can anyone help me with adding an avatar on here and a signature to my posts? I'd love to add pics of my boys. I looked in the control panel/edit profile and could not figure it out??

Here are my guys: Smokey, left & Shizzy (R.I.P), right
 

stephanietx

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Welcome to TCS! I'm sorry it's under such a sad situation, and I'm so sorry for your loss. I give you lots of credit, though, for researching the best food options for your Smokey and for wanting to make a change.

I have a 14 yo girl who LOVES the carbs in dry food, plus she's got kidney problems, so she's on prescription food. She absolutely HATES the prescription wet food, so I feed her dry and give her 2 "treats" of wet food daily, once in the morning and once in the evening. My other 2 cats eat mostly wet, but I do give a bit of dry daily.

To start off, just offer a small amount of canned food, about a teaspoon, as a treat. If you see that he likes it, then you can up the amount and substitute it for one meal a day. Then twice a day. As you up the wet, decrease the dry.
 

threecatowner

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I'm so sorry for your loss of precious Shizzy. I went through a very similar situation with Orfie in 2000. I had never heard of fatty liver disease, but in retrospect, I know he had it, and it probably killed him. (Apparently the vet didn't figure this out, either).

I remember saying the very same thing at the time - that I'd spent $1000 and didn't have a cat to show for it. It was devastating.

Orfie's sister Annie wasn't too upset he was gone, either. Sometimes they bond for life, and sometimes they just don't.

I know plenty of folks who have fed dry food (I give it for snacks, myself); IMO you can't completely blame your kitty's illness on that.

In the end, (and in the beginning) you did everything you could, and I'm sure Shizzy is smiling down upon you now.
 

catbehaviors

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Hi, welcome to the forum!

I'm sorry about what you had to go through recently with Shizzy. I'm sure some others on here can help out with the canned and dry food issue.

On to your questions about avatars and signatures.
For both of these features, you must be on the kitten level. That means you have to have one day of membership, and have made five posts.

Once you are a kitten, go to your control panel, which can be reached at the top link bar. From there, click "edit avatar". This link will be under "Settings & Options". There will be a little selection of avatars that you can have for your level. Select one, and click save!

On to the signatures! In the same area where you saw the "edit avatar" button, there will be an "edit signature" link. From there you can load a photo off of your computer, or the internet.

You can make your own signature, or you might want to ask someone else to make a signature for you. Post a request with some photos that you want to be used in the Signature Shop.

I enjoy designing signatures, so you can just send a private message my way if you want one designed!

Sorry if this was a little confusing.
Anyway, welcome to the forum, and I hope you enjoy posting!
 

strange_wings

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Is Smokey overweight, too? If so, even slighty, you need to work with your vet on that and choose your foods carefully.

Yes, all wet would be best but if you can at least manage 50% wet that is better than none.
while you don't want to hear this, Smokey's a senior cat and needs to be getting regular full blood work, too.

I'm sorry you lost Shizzy.
Smokey surely misses him but cats are different from humans - they don't always show outward signs of anything.
 
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lovemykittehs

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Thanks for the replies everyone, it means alot


I know I can't blame the illness on dry food... When really, what killed him was by him not eating. The vet said when he stopped eating his liver reacted and then shut down the kidneys and caused his glucose levels to go up and caused the diabetes. I researched kidney failure and diabetes and found out that older male cats are more prone to get either disease. So I am very paranoid about what Smokey is eating now. I have been feeding him half and half - dry in the morning and then canned food in the evening, and (dry) treats throughout the day. He absolutely loves the wet food and hardly touches his dry food now - which I am sure because the wet food is new to him. I am feeding him Purina canned food, which I am a bit weary about, in regards to the ingrediants. I am jobless and really don't have the money to be feeding him canned food but I obviously have to make the transition, I couldn't live with myself if I didn't.

I also read online that cats are very good at hiding if they're sick... When I look back on it now, I did notice alot of pee in their litterbox - HUGE clumps of it at a time - I went through litter like crazy - probably went on for two months like this and I didn't think anything of it. Smokey drinks water excessively so I just figured it was him peeing alot. Hind sight is a wonderful thing.
His kidneys must have been shutting down for a while, but I never noticed a change in Shizzy's thirst until the night he was really bad.

In regards to Smokey's bloodwork - I am bringing him to the vet on thursday to get all of that done, a complete exam/checkup and all bloodwork. I am very paranoid about him now. I couldn't bear to lose him, I lost my one boy already, it would be the end of me if I lost the other! I've had tons of pets die throughout the years (including a childhood male cat of 17 yrs) and I have never been close to any of them as I have Shizzy or Smokey. Shizzy was more my 'buddy' though..shh. lol

I hope to get a little sister for Smokey one of these days soon, as I don't think I could get another male cat with the complications they're more prone to have.
 

bellaandme

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I'm happy you came here for support. WELCOME but very
sad it had to be under these circumstances. I'm sorry for your loss. We all know what pain that is.You gave your baby a good life and he knew you loved him. I can only offer my thoughts and prayers during this time.
 

stephanietx

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I'm glad you'll be getting bloodwork and a check up done on Smokey. Please don't beat yourself up about the things you "missed" with Shizzy. He knew safety, security, and love and that's so very important for a long healthy life.
 

jennyr

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Welcome to TCS, although it is under sad circumstances. You have received good advice from some of our experienced members on feeding Smokey and I hope it works. He will almost certainly grieve for his brother, but it may take some time for him to realise that he is gone, especially when the house will still smell of him. Just watch him carefully for signs of searching, crying etc, and give him as much love as you can. It can take weeks for a cat to work through grief - I have one who cried for over 6 weeks when he lost his brother, and it didn't really stop till he found a new companion, a young female cat who adopted us one day. So I am sure your idea of another cat one day is good, as long as you are sure you have the resources to pay for it. Good luck and see you round the forums. We all know what you and Smokey are going through - it is the worst thing that can happen, and we all support each other at these times. So never feel foolish about writing down how you are feeling.
 
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lovemykittehs

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Thanks everyone.


I just re-read what I originally posted and it was actually more like 4 days that he was hospitalized, I just said 2 because I visited for the 2 days so that's all that stuck in my mind. He was originally brought in on a monday, and then hospitalized from wed - sat. I brought him in wed, visited him thurs and fri and called sat to have him put down.
Just figured I'd correct that, not that it really matters tho!

I will keep everyone posted on the outcome of Smokey's visit, if anything abnormal comes up. Hoping for the best! I doubt I have anything to worry about, but I can't help but to worry about him now.
 

krazy kat2

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I am so sorry for your loss. Shizzy was a beautiful boy. You were very brave and loving to make the hard decision to let him go with no further suffering.
I hope the rest of your visits to TCS are under happier circumstances. Welcome!
 
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