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We lost our cat Spock this past Friday. We had been trying to get a straight answer from our vet for the past year and a half to what was going on with him, but they were not helpful. Someone on this site suggested searching for a cat-focused clinic which I did find a really great one. They saw him last week and found that he had stage 3 CKD, IBD that had most likely turned into lymphoma judging by the thickness of his intestines in the xrays, pancreatitis, and advanced heart disease as well as arthiritis in his joints. Why my previous vet did not alert me to any of the issues that would come in bloodwork is beyond me! When I asked them for Spock's records to give to the cat clinic I saw the results and wish I would have asked to see them at that time instead of just trusting them to tell me if there were any abnormalities.
The cat clinic was honest with me that at his age of estimated 15 he would not have a good quality of life. The sub-q fluid treatments for CKD would affect his heart as well as the steroids treatments for IBD. He had gone from 12 lbs four years ago to 7 lbs last week. His last few days, he barely ate and was mostly just laying around looking miserable. It was clear that he didn't deserve to suffer like this, so we let him go.
I sent an email to the former vet office informing them of Spock's passing and all of the things that they should have brought to my attention. Maybe it was not necessary to send them that email but as we process grief like this I know anger is one of those phases. I also let them know that I would not be returning back to them with my other cat. She deserves better as did Spock.
Now my Luna is left coping with the loss of her brother. She seems ok so far though more vocal than usual. I sometimes feel as though she is almost asking me "where is Spock?" I let her smell me after we let him go and also showed her his empty cat carrier. I am not sure she understood of course.
My question is should we be thinking of getting her a buddy again?
We have 2 dogs also but they tend to mostly ignore her. Maybe it's too early and I am just trying to fill a void. I know when I lost a previous cat, it took me 3 months before I was able to adopt again which were these two, Spock and Luna.
Any words of wisdom is appreciated!
Here was the last pic I took of them together and of Spock.
The cat clinic was honest with me that at his age of estimated 15 he would not have a good quality of life. The sub-q fluid treatments for CKD would affect his heart as well as the steroids treatments for IBD. He had gone from 12 lbs four years ago to 7 lbs last week. His last few days, he barely ate and was mostly just laying around looking miserable. It was clear that he didn't deserve to suffer like this, so we let him go.
I sent an email to the former vet office informing them of Spock's passing and all of the things that they should have brought to my attention. Maybe it was not necessary to send them that email but as we process grief like this I know anger is one of those phases. I also let them know that I would not be returning back to them with my other cat. She deserves better as did Spock.
Now my Luna is left coping with the loss of her brother. She seems ok so far though more vocal than usual. I sometimes feel as though she is almost asking me "where is Spock?" I let her smell me after we let him go and also showed her his empty cat carrier. I am not sure she understood of course.
My question is should we be thinking of getting her a buddy again?
We have 2 dogs also but they tend to mostly ignore her. Maybe it's too early and I am just trying to fill a void. I know when I lost a previous cat, it took me 3 months before I was able to adopt again which were these two, Spock and Luna.
Any words of wisdom is appreciated!
Here was the last pic I took of them together and of Spock.
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