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A new and unwanted void
7 months ago
This took a couple weeks to process and accept, let alone write this journal about. No flowery or soft way to put it.
TK had a serious condition, but seemed to be holding her own for some time now. I came in to work one evening to feed the troopers and do some work. Found her in the aisle of the shop having convulsions. Panic of course, it's after 8 PM and my vet is off work. The local emergency clinic demands a $1K retainer to treat animals and the results and treatment are generally poor, so that's not an option.
Got her off the floor, wrapped her up in a blanket to warm her up and put her on my chest to help warm her up, petted and talked to her to try at least to comfort her and let her know she was not alone as I did not expect her to survive. We stayed like this for about five hours. Got her warmed up and she started to become calmer and less stressed. Around 3 AM she started trying to look around, seeming to become cognizant of her surroundings. She still was still pretty much unable to move in a coordinated pattern and I continued petting her to encourage her to stay calm and warm. In a short while she fell asleep on my chest and seemed to sleep soundly for about an hour. My bladder alarm had been going off for about half an hour so I made sure she was well covered in the blanket and put her in the seat of the chair to rest. She woke just long enough to see what was going on and went right back to sleep. When I came back in she was sleeping peacefully seemed to be recovering, so I took the opportunity to give Sasha some attention and food and ran back to home to try and get a bit of rest. Returning in the morning I did not see her in the chair and started hunting her. She had moved herself to her warm spot, on top of the UPS unit under my desk. She was still shaky but looked aware of her surroundings. Encouraged her to eat some food and let her rest. By late afternoon she was able to get to the litter box and was hungry for dinner. Not real stable on her paws yet but functional. Made sure she had water and warm places to rest and went home.
The next morning she was still a bit wobbly, but came out when I arrived to get breakfast. Ate normally and I put a blanket nest in my desk chair for her to rest in. At dinner time she was steadily getting back to normal and inhaled her dinner. The following morning she seemed to be back to normal, standing up on her back legs and loudly exhorting me to hurry up with breakfast. At dinner time she ran in circles around me and demanded attention and food. For the next couple days she seemed to be back to her usual self and all was well.
Came in on Sunday morning and she did not come out to meet me. Found her by the UPS under my desk. Apparently she had passed shortly before I got there as she was still warm. Miserable way to begin a Sunday morning. Took her to my vet and arranged for cremation and return of her ashes.
Sasha never behaved any differently during this entire event and never varied from her routine. Ate and drank as normal, demanded attention and demonstrated her claws when I was slow to accede to her demands. Came in on Sunday morning to feed her and let her do her usual 30 minute inspection of the front of the office patio and get in her usual mad run from the office to the storage shed and back to burn off excess energy. Let her back in and she demonstrated her appreciation and affection by punching holes in my pants and legs while I petted her in my lap. Put her breakfast out and she dived into it. Went back home for the day and returned at 6 PM to feed her and do the office backups. Found her by the food bowls, breakfast was gone but she apparently literally passed right after breakfast as she was cold and stiff. By the looks of things it was quite sudden.
Took her to the vet office the next morning to be cremated and her ashes returned. Asked the vet to try and determine the cause of death, fearing something contagious that could be passed to my furballs at home. By the evidence and postmortem she had a heart failure. Cardiovascular disease is not uncommon it cats and it really isn't noticeable until an event occurs. It was apparently quite sudden and instantly fatal. God willing she never knew what happened and did not suffer.
So there ends the tale of my office companions. Coming to work is no longer as enjoyable. I like my job, but I miss my friends, and the office is colder and emptier. Making a memorial to them, will post a pic when completed. See you on the other side. Let the rest of my furred friends know I'll be along presently.
Will grow firmer, heart grow stronger
as our numbers become less
TK had a serious condition, but seemed to be holding her own for some time now. I came in to work one evening to feed the troopers and do some work. Found her in the aisle of the shop having convulsions. Panic of course, it's after 8 PM and my vet is off work. The local emergency clinic demands a $1K retainer to treat animals and the results and treatment are generally poor, so that's not an option.
Got her off the floor, wrapped her up in a blanket to warm her up and put her on my chest to help warm her up, petted and talked to her to try at least to comfort her and let her know she was not alone as I did not expect her to survive. We stayed like this for about five hours. Got her warmed up and she started to become calmer and less stressed. Around 3 AM she started trying to look around, seeming to become cognizant of her surroundings. She still was still pretty much unable to move in a coordinated pattern and I continued petting her to encourage her to stay calm and warm. In a short while she fell asleep on my chest and seemed to sleep soundly for about an hour. My bladder alarm had been going off for about half an hour so I made sure she was well covered in the blanket and put her in the seat of the chair to rest. She woke just long enough to see what was going on and went right back to sleep. When I came back in she was sleeping peacefully seemed to be recovering, so I took the opportunity to give Sasha some attention and food and ran back to home to try and get a bit of rest. Returning in the morning I did not see her in the chair and started hunting her. She had moved herself to her warm spot, on top of the UPS unit under my desk. She was still shaky but looked aware of her surroundings. Encouraged her to eat some food and let her rest. By late afternoon she was able to get to the litter box and was hungry for dinner. Not real stable on her paws yet but functional. Made sure she had water and warm places to rest and went home.
The next morning she was still a bit wobbly, but came out when I arrived to get breakfast. Ate normally and I put a blanket nest in my desk chair for her to rest in. At dinner time she was steadily getting back to normal and inhaled her dinner. The following morning she seemed to be back to normal, standing up on her back legs and loudly exhorting me to hurry up with breakfast. At dinner time she ran in circles around me and demanded attention and food. For the next couple days she seemed to be back to her usual self and all was well.
Came in on Sunday morning and she did not come out to meet me. Found her by the UPS under my desk. Apparently she had passed shortly before I got there as she was still warm. Miserable way to begin a Sunday morning. Took her to my vet and arranged for cremation and return of her ashes.
Sasha never behaved any differently during this entire event and never varied from her routine. Ate and drank as normal, demanded attention and demonstrated her claws when I was slow to accede to her demands. Came in on Sunday morning to feed her and let her do her usual 30 minute inspection of the front of the office patio and get in her usual mad run from the office to the storage shed and back to burn off excess energy. Let her back in and she demonstrated her appreciation and affection by punching holes in my pants and legs while I petted her in my lap. Put her breakfast out and she dived into it. Went back home for the day and returned at 6 PM to feed her and do the office backups. Found her by the food bowls, breakfast was gone but she apparently literally passed right after breakfast as she was cold and stiff. By the looks of things it was quite sudden.
Took her to the vet office the next morning to be cremated and her ashes returned. Asked the vet to try and determine the cause of death, fearing something contagious that could be passed to my furballs at home. By the evidence and postmortem she had a heart failure. Cardiovascular disease is not uncommon it cats and it really isn't noticeable until an event occurs. It was apparently quite sudden and instantly fatal. God willing she never knew what happened and did not suffer.
So there ends the tale of my office companions. Coming to work is no longer as enjoyable. I like my job, but I miss my friends, and the office is colder and emptier. Making a memorial to them, will post a pic when completed. See you on the other side. Let the rest of my furred friends know I'll be along presently.
Will grow firmer, heart grow stronger
as our numbers become less
I had birds for a number of years, with them you're lucky to get a day's warning before they go from perfectly fine to gone.
Just remember that life goes on. One of our outside cats just had kittens (so I again now have the fear/dread that the local raccoons might come looking for free/easy meals ...)
Lost my senior cat Woodrow a couple years ago to cancer. Where I am there is no advanced care available for pets with cancer or immunovirus issues. Add to this a culture that looks at seriously ill pets as either inconvenient to care for or disposable. We won't even go into the dog / cockfighting groups. No, where I live is in the US but I cannot call it civilization.
Don't get me wrong though, we have a few vets and clinics here that are excellent and do everything they can but many do not have the resources for advanced treatment and having owners abandon seriously ill pets at the vet when they find out what the bill is does not help either.
Woodrow traveled and lived with me for twenty two years. He was the Senior of the house, my strong right hand in managing the other cats. When a rescued cat had kittens he was the one who took the mamas place with the newborns so she could eat and take care of her business. Played with them and let them torment him when they got older. He would do his best to cuddle and comfort the ones who were ill or dying. Broke up several fights before they could really get started. Losing him was truly bad.
Sorry, TLDR is an acceptable answer to this. Did not mean to write a novel.
But again, thank you for the condolences. You're a good man Red, and I promise not to admit it to anyone without your permission.
My biggest issue right now is sometimes finding the remains of cats and other critters the local raccoon packs catch for a snack. (My mother insists we feed some of the local stay cats, I've learned to feed them before having breakfast - a few times I almost tossed my cookies at what was waiting for me ...)