Halloween Cat Story - remembrances

When i first logged on to this site my calico was 17 1/2 and ailing - I went to vet and put her on a new diet due to high BUN. My vet told me this would help but that there were no cat liver transplants. I knew about sub-q fluids
and that might help- I urge all reading this to study your cat's behavoiral
patterns because they will let you know when they are sick.
i failed to recognize her 2nd set of symptoms because she was eating and
drinking and urinating and defecating- up until 3 days before she died.
One day b-4 she died I took her to the vet and he asked if I wanted to put her down or what - I said help her if u can and he gave her sub-q fluids and
injections and antibiotics but she died the next day. i did not want her to die
on a cold metal slab away from home and she did not. I saw her in my dreams
last night and was worried about her going outside as I always have been.
Shortly after she died, my brother gave me a new cat and i still cannot love
her like i should. Tonight i was sitting and watching TV and heard my Katy
meow- I was holding my new cat Lily at the time and I thought she was saying "have you forgotten about me - i am still here."

i would like to reply to my own message about cat behavioral problems- they usually
mean something is wrong with your cat and you should take them to the vet.
I am sorry that 32,000 people care more about there cat's peeing problems than a
potential life threatening problem.

Originally Posted by bryan3021

i would like to reply to my own message about cat behavioral problems- they usually
mean something is wrong with your cat and you should take them to the vet.
I am sorry that 32,000 people care more about there cat's peeing problems than a
potential life threatening problem.

Click to expand...

Bryan- your response was uncalled for. Most of the cat lovers on this board understand that a change in behavior in their cat is a vet visit first-off, especially if the cat is in the double-digits. Just because your post was not responded to was no reason to get upset. We are in the middle of moving to a larger server and a lot of our useful forum tools have been disbanded until after the move. That is why your post wasn't responded to- no one can find the active posts right now.

I am sorry you lost your cat, but please don't pass judgement on the members here. By and large this is a great community of cat lovers and we are here to help members, but certain attitudes will put us off-

You are right hissy - my loss was great and I could not understand why so many people were interested in minor behavioral problems - I would like to apologize to you
and all those on this site. I am a true cat lover and will always be. Losses of cats you have been with for 19 years are difficult. My main point was to recognize that behavioral problems are often health related - I made the mistake of not seeing that and my cat suffered for it. I was trying to help people see this. Please forgive me and allow me to continue to be a member of all of those who love cats.

It's okay- things are really messed up right now on the forums. All our active search functions have been stopped till after the upgrade. Normally by now you would have had a lot of people responding, but I think like me, with the search features gone- it's a feeling like a fish out of water-

I couldn't even PM you about this, had to do it on the board-

Again, I am sorry for your loss, I know how hard it is to lose a cat that you love so much

I just saw this thread. I'm so sorry for your loss. I can't imagine how shocking and horrible that it must have been to lose Katy that way.

If it isn't too painful to talk about. (I understand if it is) What were the behavior changes that were warning of illness?

I do hope that in time you can let Lily into your heart a bit more. While I'm sure he meant well, your brother may have brought a new kitty into your life before you were ready. Just remember that that isn't her fault. And that loving Lily in no way replaces or overshadows the great love you had for Katy.

Thank you for replying to my post - katy was 17 1/2 when she was diagnosed with a high BUN - my vet said all I could do was start feeding her feline l/d. i knew her advanced age was a factor and that most cats die of either kidney or liver failure.
As i mentioned b-4, i was looking for symptoms like not eating or drinking, but she was
doing both, I was also looking for her not urinating or defecating, but she was doing both of those also. Her behavior had changed, and she was crying and misbehaving
(or so i thought). She often woke me up at odd hours of the night (3Am- 5AM) and
although I knew she had health problems, I did not see any major changes other than
what appeared to be misbehavior. If I had acted quickly, she may have lived another
6 months or possibly even a year. I realize most people consider 19 years to be a very
long life for a cat, but the world's records is 36 years for a cat that lived in my city,
Tampa, FL. I posted this hoping that if I could convince someone to take their cat to
the vet after having similar problems, i may help a cat live 6 months or even a year
longer. if 1 person reads this and it helps their animal live a longer life, it is because
I love my cat very much. Another factor is LOVE- any living thing is likely to live longer
when it knows it is loved. I will see my katy again some day.

My senior cat Ox is 26 1/2 yrs old. As I have recently posted he is having behavior changes most likely age related. I will contact my vet to see what can be done however Ox has had a hard but for the most part good life. I got him back when he was 2 I had given him to my supervisor daughter as a birthday present. He was not neutered until I got him and had been in a really horrific fight once. He is always the "big brother" wanting to go outside if something is going on. He had a mysterious wound one day in his abdomen I thought shot-but the vets never found an exit would or any bullet fragments. He was shot by a pellet gun a couple of yrs later-he was VERY lucky it didn't shatter his leg. You can gather that he is an indoor/outdoor cat. Last yr when I went thought the tragedies of my stray Tommie and of course Sheba he slept on the bed by my side to comfort me (he never sleeps on the bed).
Now he spends most of his life sleeping on one of the kitchen chairs or in a sunny window unless its nice outside and he wants to wander down to the catnip patch. Of all our cats he's never been "the favored" one but has seen many come and go throughout the yrs.
When it is he time to cross the Rainbow bridge I will miss him for his quiet strength he has had over the yrs.

I am very sorry to hear of your loss. I have absolutely no idea what I will do when that inevitable day happens with Sabina, my elder cat. She is 19 1/2 and I've had her since she was 8 weeks old.

I recently found out that she is in kidney failure.

She wasn't misbehaving, I just noticed that she seemed to be urinating a whole lot more than she used to in her litter box and it smelled sweet (oddly enough) so I brought her in to the vet and found out there's a problem with the amount of glucose her body produces and she is in kidney failure.

Right now she is on k/d prescription food and I do the "skin pull check" to make sure she doesn't get dehydrated. My vet told me to keep an eye on that and I know I'll have to bring her in again soon to check the progress and see if the k/d is helping. Then we'll determine the next course of action.

I feel for you and hope that maybe the new cat can help to ease the pain, not erase the memories or stop you from mourning the loss. Best wishes and best of luck. There are an awful lot of people who are in this "disposable pet" sort of mindset --- if there is a problem, get rid of it. Sad but true in some people. It does not seem to be the case here, thankfully.

Bryan, I appreciate your effort to make people aware that the traditional indicators of illness may not always be present in a kitty that's actually very sick. You may have saved some furry little lives with your post!

What worries me is that you seem to be feeling guilty about not being able to save Katy. Please don't -- cats are so careful to hide it when they're ill. You did the very best you could, and your kitty had a very long life. Best of all, she was truly loved.

It's true that you might not have been ready for a new kitty right away... but Lily is with you now, a living, loving little creature who needs you just as much as Katy did. Loving Lily isn't being disloyal to Katy -- love is infinite, and giving love away just generates more of it.

I'll tell you what I think: when you heard Katy meow, I think she was saying thank you for all your years together, and sort of passing you along to Lily, so Lily can take over where Katy had to leave off. Katy wouldn't want you to be lonely. I think she was giving you and Lily her blessing.

And for what it's worth, I absolutely believe that if there is an afterlife, we'll find all our loved ones there -- including our cats.