Category: Cat blogging

We took Tiggr to the vet yesterday for another subcutaneous fluid treatment, but also to have the vet look at him to see if there was anything else we could do.  The vet gave him a B12 shot and drew some blood for a test, and we should find out what the results of that were today.  He said that the vitamin shot might prompt Tiggr to eat.

I think we are pretty much at the end of the rope, but he did hop up on the bed this morning and climb on my chest and let me pet him.  He’s just not big on eating right now.  And none of us want him to just waste away to the point where he has no quality of life.

I hate making this decision, just like I hated making it when Snoopy went.  Now I know how my dad felt when he took our other cats on their last trips to the vet.  It smacks of playing God.  Yet at the same time, I think of animals in the wild who don’t even have a warm, soft place to lay their heads when they decide the time has come (if they manage to live long enough to die naturally).  Is it better for a human caretaker to decide, God-like, that a sweet little cat’s time on Earth has come to an end?  I suppose it is, but in the nature of things, I will always have my doubts.

I’ve known since I was a kid that animals don’t live as long as we do.  That doesn’t make me any happier about it.

ETA: Tiggr, when he was feeling better, back in February.

Back in March, we brought Tiggr home from the vet after he’d spent a few days there getting rehydrated.  That’s when we found out that he had fairly advanced renal failure.

We’ve been taking him twice a week for subcutaneous fluids, and, other than being painfully thin — he’s under 7 pounds, and has been for awhile — he’s been doing pretty well.

But now, for the past 24 hours anyway, he’s pretty much stopped eating.  He just looks at his food and plays with the snacks we give him, and sleeps a lot.  And he did not jump up on the bed with us last night, except once (the wife says he was up there at 3:30AM, but I was dead to the world, according to my Fitbit).  Normally he’s up there several times and ends up sleeping in between us.

While he’s still bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, jumping up on things and climbing on his people, I think today when we take him for fluids again, the verdict is going to be fairly obvious.

I’m certainly upset about this, but I don’t think I’m as upset as I was with Snoopy.  This is a cat, after all, who nearly died when he was 3 from ingesting the better part of a bobbin of thread from my wife’s sewing machine.  We’ve had 12 years with him that we came very close to not having.

But it’s still hard.

We took Tiggr in to the vet on Saturday for his annual checkup, and also because he’s been losing a lot of weight lately.  He weighed 8 pounds on the vet’s scale (this is a cat that once weighed 22 pounds and we had to put him on reduced fat prescription kibble).  The vet took one look at him and said, “This cat is dehydrated.”  Which surprised us because he’s been drinking water and eating canned food (though he hasn’t been eating much kibble lately and that is probably why).  Otherwise he’s been fairly regular in his activities of daily catitude, jumping on beds, purring, scarfing kitty treats and so forth.  So the vet kept him for the weekend to put some IV fluids in and to do some blood work.

Yesterday morning she called and said that Tiggr was a very happy cat, eating kibble, playing with toys, very bright-eyed and bushy-tailed.

This morning she called again and said the blood work was back.

His kidneys are compromised.

That means that we are going to have to take him in weekly for a flush and fill.

When this happened years ago with Snoopy, it went on for about two months I think.

Tiggr is almost 15 years old (he’ll be 15 Memorial Day weekend) and he’s been with us longer than we’ve been married.  He’s the one who ate a half a bobbin of thread when he was 3 and cost us a potload of money to get him fixed up.  Never grudged the money.  It’s what you do when you’re a cat’s parent.

I hope those who come here will be moved to take a moment to have a word with whatever $DEITY they choose on Tiggr’s behalf.  We’ll certainly try to keep him happy and pain-free until the time comes to let him cross the Rainbow Bridge.  We’ve got his lilac all picked out in the back yard, too.

Found on Facebook.

That’s about how I feel.

Tam inspired me to post this:

It wouldn’t be so bad, except that he’s lying on the Bersa.

(No comments about the crapped-up desk, please.  You know what they say about a neat desk.)

Another week gone by with nothing from me.

Work is killing me.  I have no energy for blogging.  And the 8AM teleconference with customers across the pond did not help with that.  I need black coffee and a sugary doughnut and I need them now.  And to Gehenna with the Bloomberger who tries to stop me.

In the meantime be amused by cat antics.  Or the lack thereof.  I call this one “Tigger in a blanket.”

Embiggenator
Daddy’s monitor makes a great pillow for my nap. What? I’m in the way? Impossible.

Embiggenator