- Joined
- Jul 22, 2013
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- Purraise
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We lost Will to FIP, apparently, on 6/6/2014 when after as best a diagnosis could be made was determined and we gave him the relief of the Neverending Nap (which to me seems cat appropriate with how often they enjoy napping 
Rather than focus on the nuances of FIP which have agonized me some, in particular the lack of a 100% diagnosis, and his not fitting the usual parameters of situation or age, or the bloating, I wanted to just give a short biography for him. Even the morning we let him go, he was cuddly, nuzzling up against petting and scratching of his head and ears and looking as cute as ever, if terribly emaciated.
Will was feral (sort of) and as such some things are known, some are not.
Will was born around 12/2012 with a sister in the litter to our knowledge. By the time we saw Will and his sister come around with their mother, Greedy, it was April or May 2012. Greedy was tolerant of our attention and feeding her, and had been for the previous year or a bit more, when we first met her and her daughter from a previous litter, Baby. Baby would even wander into our house if we left the door open, and Greedy in the past, pre-Will, had at least stepped inside to monitor that. Around April 2012, Baby disappeared. Around May 2012, Greedy and Will's sister disappeared. To this day I like to think that someone took them in (Baby and Greedy had been spay/neutered by us making them perhaps more enticing with the tipped ear, and who doesn't want to take in a 4 or 5 month old kitten if around the mother? Yes, something else could have happened but I like my version).
Since May 2012, Will has pretty much been solo and began to spend an average of 8 to 12 hours a day either on our patio or in our garden (possibly spending even more time in the garden unbeknownst to us). We had been feeding him (and the others) and continued to leave food for him morning and night along with water and he seemed good. His patio mates over the two years included the cat we believe was the Papa of Baby, Will and the sister. For all we know he was the father of Greedy too, but that was prior to our awareness of them being in the neighborhood. Also, hanging around the patio were a baby opossum, an adult opossum, a couple raccoons off and on, and two other cats off and on (one a stray, the other undetermined if owned, abandoned, stray or feral).
Will graduated from running off to the garden when I stepped out onto the patio to sticking around and eventually accepting petting and scratching. In his time out there on the patio, starting in 6/12, he had a friend in our house kitten, later to be called a house cat I guess, although still a kitten to me. Pan and Will mingled through the glass door, the screen door, and the screen window at times. One time they even hung out on the patio cautiously overlooked by myself, a ready hand on Pan's leash which had to restrain a chase at least twice. Playful it seemed, but I was too weary to risk interaction that could get rough even in play.
In the past year or so, Will would be reliable as Old Faithful, responding to the chime of our door when we got home, trotting up to the glass patio door and meowing and scratching at it to make sure we didn't forget to acknowledge him (and feed him, I'm sure). Sometimes he would be away a day or two then be back scratching for attention. When he disappeared for more than 2 days, we worried, but he came back. When we went on a vacation, upon returning, we realized that he either didn't know how (having never had to), or didn't think to hunt for himself and he had gotten skinny. He bounced back fine from that incident and on the subsequent vacation we had a neighbor leave food daily and he did great.
About six months ago or so, I left the door open like we did with Baby (while having Pan in the bedroom safe away) and Will decided to saunter in and around a little bit. Due to Pan and our concerns about what could or could not be passed through what manners, this type of visit didn't really repeat although he was given a couple chances and just was less curious apparently.
About a month ago we thought he looked a bit skinny, but he had always been on the small side. A bit over two weeks ago we became concerned about how he continued to lose weight and wasn't eating full portions any more. I was away for a few days just after that and we had already started discussing the possible need to take him to a vet to find out what was up with him when my wife mentioned he didn't eat at all at least two days in a row.
His behavior was mostly the same if a bit more lazy, hanging on the patio for hours of the day was not unusual, but the not eating, and not eating wet food was as suspicious as the continued losing weight. He didn't seem in distress at all, other than being emaciated. When I returned and he didn't eat again we took him to Pan's vet. A few tests there, some fluids, an antibiotic and we took him into the house and set him up in the bathroom without any sure diagnosis or idea at that point. After very small success at feeding him further, and signs of diarrhea, a week later I took him to another vet where I could afford further tests which led to the diagnosis and his Nap.
I like to think of that week at home with us as his Make a Wish moment A friend of ours often said that Will seemed to be a fan in line at some fancy club just waiting to get in the way he would scratch at the door and enjoy the attention given to him. He was so thin, and presumably starving, but every morning, afternoon and evening I would step in to spend time with him, he seemed comfortable in a way. He would be in the carrier as his 'home bed' and with a scratch of his head and ears, he would raise up pushing into the attention. He would step out of the carrier and rub against leg and move into the scratching whenever he could walking around the bathroom. Having not had a lot of close one on one time, it was also during this week I first truly heard his loud purring when getting that attention. His meows for attention were characteristic from his time on the patio. He didn't yowl, scratch or try and climb his way out, he was content I think. His only moves for escape was to recognize where we came in and out through and once in the room he would sit patiently sometimes near the door waiting for us to exit to try and come along. If not for Pan, perhaps we would have, then again, his inability or lack of interest in using the litter/soil made his venturing forth questionable even if we didn't have Pan I think
In the end, I truly think he was happy and had as enjoyable and relaxing a time that last week finally getting to be 'In' at the "club". It was his ongoing friendly nature, his craving and enjoying the attention each time of each day, that made the call the hardest to let him Sleep. But it is knowing that those were his last days that reaffirm that I probably made the right call and his emaciated state didn't seem to reach the point where it was superseding his limelight those last days.
Will, formally called "Dum Dum" affectionately due to our need to avoid getting close to any outdoor cats after Baby and Greedy disappeared, and for his amazing knack to be under the roofed patio until the hardest rain started, and then deciding to go into the garden instead, managed to insinuate his way into my heart slowly but surely and you will truly be missed every time I come home and look for you at the patio door, when I go to open the patio door to go cook and look to make sure I don't scare you off, and when Pan looks out the patio door and I wonder if it is you, the opossum, the raccoon, the other cats, or the gheckos that seem to be coming back in force now that you aren't out there
Rather than focus on the nuances of FIP which have agonized me some, in particular the lack of a 100% diagnosis, and his not fitting the usual parameters of situation or age, or the bloating, I wanted to just give a short biography for him. Even the morning we let him go, he was cuddly, nuzzling up against petting and scratching of his head and ears and looking as cute as ever, if terribly emaciated.
Will was feral (sort of) and as such some things are known, some are not.
Will was born around 12/2012 with a sister in the litter to our knowledge. By the time we saw Will and his sister come around with their mother, Greedy, it was April or May 2012. Greedy was tolerant of our attention and feeding her, and had been for the previous year or a bit more, when we first met her and her daughter from a previous litter, Baby. Baby would even wander into our house if we left the door open, and Greedy in the past, pre-Will, had at least stepped inside to monitor that. Around April 2012, Baby disappeared. Around May 2012, Greedy and Will's sister disappeared. To this day I like to think that someone took them in (Baby and Greedy had been spay/neutered by us making them perhaps more enticing with the tipped ear, and who doesn't want to take in a 4 or 5 month old kitten if around the mother? Yes, something else could have happened but I like my version).
Since May 2012, Will has pretty much been solo and began to spend an average of 8 to 12 hours a day either on our patio or in our garden (possibly spending even more time in the garden unbeknownst to us). We had been feeding him (and the others) and continued to leave food for him morning and night along with water and he seemed good. His patio mates over the two years included the cat we believe was the Papa of Baby, Will and the sister. For all we know he was the father of Greedy too, but that was prior to our awareness of them being in the neighborhood. Also, hanging around the patio were a baby opossum, an adult opossum, a couple raccoons off and on, and two other cats off and on (one a stray, the other undetermined if owned, abandoned, stray or feral).
Will graduated from running off to the garden when I stepped out onto the patio to sticking around and eventually accepting petting and scratching. In his time out there on the patio, starting in 6/12, he had a friend in our house kitten, later to be called a house cat I guess, although still a kitten to me. Pan and Will mingled through the glass door, the screen door, and the screen window at times. One time they even hung out on the patio cautiously overlooked by myself, a ready hand on Pan's leash which had to restrain a chase at least twice. Playful it seemed, but I was too weary to risk interaction that could get rough even in play.
In the past year or so, Will would be reliable as Old Faithful, responding to the chime of our door when we got home, trotting up to the glass patio door and meowing and scratching at it to make sure we didn't forget to acknowledge him (and feed him, I'm sure). Sometimes he would be away a day or two then be back scratching for attention. When he disappeared for more than 2 days, we worried, but he came back. When we went on a vacation, upon returning, we realized that he either didn't know how (having never had to), or didn't think to hunt for himself and he had gotten skinny. He bounced back fine from that incident and on the subsequent vacation we had a neighbor leave food daily and he did great.
About six months ago or so, I left the door open like we did with Baby (while having Pan in the bedroom safe away) and Will decided to saunter in and around a little bit. Due to Pan and our concerns about what could or could not be passed through what manners, this type of visit didn't really repeat although he was given a couple chances and just was less curious apparently.
About a month ago we thought he looked a bit skinny, but he had always been on the small side. A bit over two weeks ago we became concerned about how he continued to lose weight and wasn't eating full portions any more. I was away for a few days just after that and we had already started discussing the possible need to take him to a vet to find out what was up with him when my wife mentioned he didn't eat at all at least two days in a row.
His behavior was mostly the same if a bit more lazy, hanging on the patio for hours of the day was not unusual, but the not eating, and not eating wet food was as suspicious as the continued losing weight. He didn't seem in distress at all, other than being emaciated. When I returned and he didn't eat again we took him to Pan's vet. A few tests there, some fluids, an antibiotic and we took him into the house and set him up in the bathroom without any sure diagnosis or idea at that point. After very small success at feeding him further, and signs of diarrhea, a week later I took him to another vet where I could afford further tests which led to the diagnosis and his Nap.
I like to think of that week at home with us as his Make a Wish moment
A friend of ours often said that Will seemed to be a fan in line at some fancy club just waiting to get in the way he would scratch at the door and enjoy the attention given to him. He was so thin, and presumably starving, but every morning, afternoon and evening I would step in to spend time with him, he seemed comfortable in a way. He would be in the carrier as his 'home bed' and with a scratch of his head and ears, he would raise up pushing into the attention. He would step out of the carrier and rub against leg and move into the scratching whenever he could walking around the bathroom. Having not had a lot of close one on one time, it was also during this week I first truly heard his loud purring when getting that attention. His meows for attention were characteristic from his time on the patio. He didn't yowl, scratch or try and climb his way out, he was content I think. His only moves for escape was to recognize where we came in and out through and once in the room he would sit patiently sometimes near the door waiting for us to exit to try and come along. If not for Pan, perhaps we would have, then again, his inability or lack of interest in using the litter/soil made his venturing forth questionable even if we didn't have Pan I think In the end, I truly think he was happy and had as enjoyable and relaxing a time that last week finally getting to be 'In' at the "club". It was his ongoing friendly nature, his craving and enjoying the attention each time of each day, that made the call the hardest to let him Sleep. But it is knowing that those were his last days that reaffirm that I probably made the right call and his emaciated state didn't seem to reach the point where it was superseding his limelight those last days.
Will, formally called "Dum Dum" affectionately due to our need to avoid getting close to any outdoor cats after Baby and Greedy disappeared, and for his amazing knack to be under the roofed patio until the hardest rain started, and then deciding to go into the garden instead
, managed to insinuate his way into my heart slowly but surely and you will truly be missed every time I come home and look for you at the patio door, when I go to open the patio door to go cook and look to make sure I don't scare you off, and when Pan looks out the patio door and I wonder if it is you, the opossum, the raccoon, the other cats, or the gheckos that seem to be coming back in force now that you aren't out there 
