Duster - gone too soon

This is my first time posting on this site but have been on it all day and thought I would share my story.

My husband and I had to put down our sweet 8 month old kitten, Duster morning at 6 am and we are heartbroken. We took him in on Friday for a declaw and he had a reaction to the anesthia and his heart stopped on the table. He was resuscitated and had been fighting for his life. They said he had a brain injury from his heart stopping since he wasn't waking up well and was having problems. His heart wasn't stopped for long as they started CPR immediately. Yesterday evening (after being in the emergency clinic for about 24 hours) things were looking up as he was starting to show more neurological responses and wasn't getting worse. We thought he just needed time to heal. Unfortunately, this morning he had a seizure and possibly a stroke or blood clot and stopped breathing again. They got his heart beating again but this time he wasn't able to breath on his own without help and had no neurological reaction to anything. He had dialated pupils and after over an hour of hoping and praying for a miracle we decided we needed to say goodbye.

We didn't want to do a declaw but after giving him months of time to be nicer to his big brother, Simba, who is 10 and declawed, we decided to do it since we didn't have much more time to decide. He loved his big brother so much but jumped on and pinned him down too much and we were worried about our older one getting injured.

We are completely devastated and didn't expect any issues as he was neutered before we got him without any issues. The Drs think he had an underlying heart condition which caused his problems.

Did you have any blood work done to screen him in advance of the anesthesia?

Since he had been under anesthesia before with no problems, a heart condition was most likely the reason for his trouble. I pray the others on this site will overlook the declawing, which is looked down upon on this site, and give you the support you need during a time like this. There is nothing to be gained by dwelling on all the why's, and should haves, it was a horrible accident and there was no way for you to ever predict any thing like this. You gave that sweet little boy 8 months of love and affection, it is all he ever wanted.  The shock of something like this happening is sudden and severe. It is totally unexpected and so therefore harder to process by a grieving heart. You had absolutely no way of predicting this and i hope you can move forward with your healing.There is no way to change the past,  no matter how much we would like to, you have a bond with that precious little one that will bring you comfort in the times ahead. The love you shared is spiritual, so eternal.  Use this time to grieve as he should be grieved for, surround yourself with people who understand and who can help you through it. You never get over something like this, you learn to live with it. My heart goes out to you, i know how much this hurts. I'll keep you all in my thoughts and prayers, know that Duster would never want you to be so sad when thinking of him. Take care.......RIP beautiful Duster, you will never be forgotten and will always be held in a loving heart. May your journey to the Rainbow Bridge be swift  and the ones you left behind be filled with your love. Sleep tight little Prince!  

What a terrible shock. It is so hard when they pass so unexpectedly. You just assume that they are going to be fine when they go in to the vet for a little thing like this, there is no way to even guess that something like this could happen. I'm so sorry for your loss. RIP, little Duster, you were very loved in your short time here.

So very sorry to hear that you lost your sweet friend Duster. May he run free at the bridge now.  I am so very sorry for your loss. Diane said it best. Nothing we can do about it now. Sending you hugs.

 We have to accept we do not know much about life, how body works and how to fix it when necessary Sometimes a 90 years old lady survives to a 4 hours surgery and is ok, while a 30 years old male in good shape dies from an infection from a nail in his finger.  For every piece of knowledge, Nature hides from us another 10 pieces of knowledge. And we dont even know why is that.

Nobody can figure out how many difficulties kitty passed before the end. How many times a cat is in danger in his life nobody knows. 

A fragile constitution is not like a picture on the wall. One can not spot it, cannot anticipate what can happen. 

There is end in all creatures. Short or long life is just our subjective view. What it counts is whether that Creature accomplished his/her mission to bring Love in somebody heart.  In your case, Dusty did it. In his short life, he manages to show you what Love means. Then he accomplished his mission and is now gone to help others.

Head bow and  keep the gift of Love Dusty gave you.

So sorry that you lost the little guy at such a young age....God Bless......

Thanks everyone. We didn't want to declaw at all and we thought it was the best choice given our situation with our two cats. But I will never ever try to do that again, i will figure out another plan when we get another kitten.

We had all the pre surgery blood work done and nothing was found, but you can't really see what is going on in the heart without an ultrasound of it. Looking back at videos of him I see just how fast his breathing was. At the time I just thought it was normal for him and since he was a kitten, it didn't strike me as a huge problem. Maybe once he was a little older and still happening it would have worried me.

I know this was just the cards he and I were given but it still is so hard. I am so thankful he chose us as his humans and we got to know him, I just wish it was longer and he wasn't stuck with a heart problem.

RIP sweet Duster