He passed away Monday after we had taken him to the emergency vet over the weekend and to our regular vet Monday morning. He was only 3 1/2. He had a urethral blockage that the emergency vet cleared then he re-blocked. Our regular vet unblocked him again, but he passed away after that. We think it was a blood clot or the toxins had built up in his system too much and with his neurological issues, his body just couldn't take it.
He was stricken with distemper (feline panleukopenia) when he was 13 months old and lost his little best friend, Augie, from it and we are still devastated by it. Augie apparently caught it when he was being neutered at a low cost vet and passed it on to Simon while they played in the week afterward before Augie passed away. We were on heightened awareness after losing Augie, so we took Simon to our regular vet at the first sign of trouble. We took care of him at home, nursing him back to health. We force fed him and gave him subcutaneous fluids until he could eat and drink on his own. We sat on the floor with him and held him while we sang to him. We thought for sure he was going to die then, but he pulled through. Afterward, he had a wobbly walk (his only neurological symptom), but was otherwise his old self. He came out of isolation two months after he first got sick and we hoped he'd live a long, happy life after that.
My wife and I are both wrecks, but I'm still having to work. My workplace won't understand bereavement time for a cat.
We're going to have him cremated and keep him near us. We are going to get a custom ceramic urn for him from Etsy. We're going to do that with each of our kitties and probably get ourselves cremated when we die, then get all of us mixed together and spread somewhere beautiful and peaceful.
It's like we've lost a child. We can barely function, but we have to keep going for our other babies. We can tell that they miss him and his absence is palpable in the house. He was so gregarious and full of life. He was our little jester, always making us laugh. He would lay across my chest and sleep while I sat on the couch and it is killing me for him to not be there. We keep trying to figure out what we did wrong and what we can do to prevent anything like this from happening again.
My latest picture of Simon:
Simon and Augie. I have to believe that they are playing together again wherever they are.
He was stricken with distemper (feline panleukopenia) when he was 13 months old and lost his little best friend, Augie, from it and we are still devastated by it. Augie apparently caught it when he was being neutered at a low cost vet and passed it on to Simon while they played in the week afterward before Augie passed away. We were on heightened awareness after losing Augie, so we took Simon to our regular vet at the first sign of trouble. We took care of him at home, nursing him back to health. We force fed him and gave him subcutaneous fluids until he could eat and drink on his own. We sat on the floor with him and held him while we sang to him. We thought for sure he was going to die then, but he pulled through. Afterward, he had a wobbly walk (his only neurological symptom), but was otherwise his old self. He came out of isolation two months after he first got sick and we hoped he'd live a long, happy life after that.
My wife and I are both wrecks, but I'm still having to work. My workplace won't understand bereavement time for a cat.
We're going to have him cremated and keep him near us. We are going to get a custom ceramic urn for him from Etsy. We're going to do that with each of our kitties and probably get ourselves cremated when we die, then get all of us mixed together and spread somewhere beautiful and peaceful.
It's like we've lost a child. We can barely function, but we have to keep going for our other babies. We can tell that they miss him and his absence is palpable in the house. He was so gregarious and full of life. He was our little jester, always making us laugh. He would lay across my chest and sleep while I sat on the couch and it is killing me for him to not be there. We keep trying to figure out what we did wrong and what we can do to prevent anything like this from happening again.
My latest picture of Simon:
Simon and Augie. I have to believe that they are playing together again wherever they are.