Yet Another Sad Day...
10 September 2015
My dear friends,
It is with a heavy heart that I write today. This morning, I had to send my darling Woody cat over the Rainbow Bridge. The sudden onset of serious symptoms was quite unexpected and at this moment, the only consolation I can feel is that I know his brother, Jake, was waiting to greet him -- and my beloved German Shepherd, Hallie, too.
I don't think Woody ever really got over losing his brother in early May. It's quite normal for a pet to become depressed after losing a life-long mate, much less a sibling. In 12 years, they had NEVER been apart except for one night when Woody had to stay overnight at the Cat Care Clinic for his insulin therapy trial. And while they weren't always side-by-side, they still engaged in play at least two times a day and would sleep on either side of me at night.
When I returned from my 10-day trip to West Virginia at the end of June, I noticed that Woody had lost a bit of weight. Again -- not unusual -- he stayed with my dear friend Lisa and she gave him lots of attention and affection, but she said he was obviously missing me (and probably Jake, too).
On July 2, I adopted little Buzzy and after a brief period of adjustment, Woody began to engage in play with the little guy AND was obviously teaching him certain standards of behavior. Buzzy learned very quickly how to read Woody's "that's quite ENOUGH!" signs and all was well. But Woody's appetite remained a bit off. Being diabetic, that is always cause for concern, but is sometimes just a passing thing. Dr. Sisco felt it might be because (of course!) Woody was a lot more interested in what the kitten was eating even though he couldn't have any of it.
Just two weeks ago, I took Woody to Dr. Sisco because I was growing alarmed at what seemed to be more weight loss despite my attempts to get him to eat more and had offered a variety of prescription diabetic cat foods. In fact, he was down 1/2 pound from his last glucose check which is a lot for a cat who was not at all overweight. The physical exam didn't turn up anything significant; he had a mild case of conjunctivitis which I was told is not unusual in this area at this time of year due to the pollen count. Dr. Sisco gave me some medicinal ointment to put in his eyes twice and also prescribed an appetite stimulant to be given twice a day. Woody seemed to like the sample of Hills Science Diet diabetic food she gave us, so I immediately called up my friends at Chewy.com to order some. They are absolutely the BEST company I have ever dealt with for anything and noting that I had just bought a case of the OTHER kind of diabetic food, they gave me a full refund on my credit card and just asked that I donate the unused food. Not a problem.
Two days later, the shipment of the new food arrived and I felt like this was all Woody needed -- a change. After all, I would get pretty tired of eating the same thing day after day. I was encouraged.
But my hope was short-lived. Not only was the appetite stimulator pill NOT working, one of the side effects is that it can make the animal lethargic. Woody was already lethargic and spending more and more time off to himself than engaging with me or Buzzy.
Labor Day weekend was truly the longest of my life! I had spoken to Dr. Sisco on the Friday of, and she said to try giving him some of the Cerenia (anti-nausea meds) that I had leftover from Jake; that perhaps his tummy was upset about something. So I started that, but there was no change in Woody's appetite or general demeanor. By Sunday, he was only getting up to take a bite or two of food and he seemed to be having trouble even negotiating the water fountain which he has always LOVED to drink out of and PLAY in with his front paws. There were two times on Monday that I found him sleeping in my closet and both of those times, his breathing was so shallow I thought he had passed! My stomach was in knots. There was no way I could afford to take him to the Pet ER and I prayed hard for him to make it through until Tuesday.
Tuesday morning, both Dr. Sisco and I were alarmed that Woody had lost another POUND in just a week. He had no fever, no tenderness in his abdomen. His blood glucose was good, but he was NOT himself at all. Normally, when we are waiting in the exam room, he would snook all around taking in all the different smells and then greet Dr. Sisco by rubbing up against her legs. This day, he flopped down on the floor with his back to us.
As he hadn't had an adult blood panel done in about a year, we decided this would be the time to do it. She was also able to express some urine from his bladder and test that. I agreed to leave him there until they could get the tests back in order to eliminate the stress of another car ride. The afternoon went by slowly for me, but Dr. Sisco called about 3:30 to tell me that the tests indicated he may have a kidney infection, but that the reading from the blood panel was off the charts for blood protein. She said she would like to do a further study and even said she would have it done at no charge to me; this would give us more definitive information and would help her get closer to a total diagnosis. I agreed to let Woody spend the night at the clinic. He was resting comfortably and, of course, everyone on Dr. Sisco's staff just adores him.
It was a long night for me. Buzzy hunted all over for his big buddy, but finally settled down. I prayed hard and remained cautiously optimistic.
Shortly after 9 a.m. on Wednesday morning, Dr. Sisco called. Yes, Woody did have a kidney infection and they had given him the appropriate antibiotic to treat that already. But the numbers for his blood protein were off the charts, which indicates something a lot more serious. She said, "My experience tells me that this could either be (some long medical word that I can't spell or pronounce) bone marrow cancer OR the mutated FIV virus. As the test for this mutated virus is not real accurate (they give as many false positives as false negatives) we agreed that to do it was just a waste of money. IF Woody was sick with that mutated virus, there is no cure. There is also no cure for bone marrow cancer. I was devastated. Dr. Sisco encouraged me to take him home for the day and overnight and to call her later on in the day or first thing Thursday morning.
Not wanting Woody to have to deal with little Buzzy's incessant play, I packed up his things and took him over to Julie's house. He LOVES IT THERE! He engages and actively plays with her little Italian Greyhound, Maybel, and would have a lot more fun over there than he would here with me having to keep him from bothering Woody. After dropping him off, I went to the Cat Clinic to bring Woody home for what I already knew in my heart and mind would be his last day in this life.
Aside from a tiny bit of "contraband" wet food and a little bit of water, all Woody wanted to do was lie down and sleep. Linda came over in the afternoon; we talked about how hard it is to make the decision for our pets when enough is enough. So when she left, I called the Cat Care Clinic and set an appointment for 10:30 this morning.
Lisa came over later in the evening to say her goodbyes to Woody and she offered such a lovely prayer for both Woody AND me. She asked our Heavenly Father to just take Woody in his sleep if He saw fit. and if not, to pleaselet Jake and Hallie know that their dear friend would be on his way shortly. Lisa said, "I will pick you up at 10:00 in the morning and take you to the vet." Dear Lisa had known Jake & Woody since they were tiny kittens and she loved them as much as I did.
It was a very long and difficult evening for me, but Woody wanted to be close. He slept on my lap for a very long time and when it got close to my bedtime, I carried him in and placed him on the blanket. I didn't sleep too well and got up once to find Woody sleeping on the lanai. Granted, that was always his second favorite place to sleep, but I just didn't want him to have to die by himself.
Woody was so weak and so dehydrated this morning, he felt like a bag of bones in my arms. He showed little interest in exploring the treatment room while we waited for Dr. Sisco to come in. Dr. Sisco had tears in her eyes when she did and immediately gave me a big hug. She said, "This is so very hard! He is the best patient I have ever had -- a truly wonderful cat in all respects -- and we have both tried very hard to keep him happy and healthy." I broke down but knew I was doing the best thing for Woody.
As expected, he slipped away quickly and peacefully as I stroked his head and whispered to him "Goodbye, dear one. I will see you again one day." I am crying as I write this. I have pictures of "My Boyz" on the shelf here in my office. I never expected to lose Jake so soon and so quickly -- and now losing Woody.... The pain is huge. Woody's remains will be cremated and returned to me next Tuesday, together with the beautiful paw imprint memento that like the one I had done for Jake. I had thought about asking the folks who bought my Maryland farm if I could come and sprinkle their ashes on my little pet cemetery there, but I'm not sure I can handle even visiting my old home just yet. So I will just keep them here for now.
Woody will not be soon forgotten -- nor will Jake. I watch Buzzy fly around here and he is so much like BOTH of them, it's amazing. He is alternately a cuddle bug (Woody) and a little terrorist (Jake) but he brings me great joy every single day. Buzzy is sound asleep now and has been since I brought him home from Julie's. And Julie volunteered to keep him while I make my trip to Maryland from the 18th through the 28th. I know he will have lots of fun over there with all his new friends. When I return, I may have to consider adopting a close-in-age companion for him, as I have always believed that everyone needs a friend. But we'll see...I need some time.
For those of you who have known about Woody's illness the past two weeks, thank you for your words of love and support. For those who haven't, I apologize for the length of this writing, but felt compelled to share this part of my Journey with you.
From my heart to yours,kathi
My dear friends,
It is with a heavy heart that I write today. This morning, I had to send my darling Woody cat over the Rainbow Bridge. The sudden onset of serious symptoms was quite unexpected and at this moment, the only consolation I can feel is that I know his brother, Jake, was waiting to greet him -- and my beloved German Shepherd, Hallie, too.
I don't think Woody ever really got over losing his brother in early May. It's quite normal for a pet to become depressed after losing a life-long mate, much less a sibling. In 12 years, they had NEVER been apart except for one night when Woody had to stay overnight at the Cat Care Clinic for his insulin therapy trial. And while they weren't always side-by-side, they still engaged in play at least two times a day and would sleep on either side of me at night.
When I returned from my 10-day trip to West Virginia at the end of June, I noticed that Woody had lost a bit of weight. Again -- not unusual -- he stayed with my dear friend Lisa and she gave him lots of attention and affection, but she said he was obviously missing me (and probably Jake, too).
On July 2, I adopted little Buzzy and after a brief period of adjustment, Woody began to engage in play with the little guy AND was obviously teaching him certain standards of behavior. Buzzy learned very quickly how to read Woody's "that's quite ENOUGH!" signs and all was well. But Woody's appetite remained a bit off. Being diabetic, that is always cause for concern, but is sometimes just a passing thing. Dr. Sisco felt it might be because (of course!) Woody was a lot more interested in what the kitten was eating even though he couldn't have any of it.
Just two weeks ago, I took Woody to Dr. Sisco because I was growing alarmed at what seemed to be more weight loss despite my attempts to get him to eat more and had offered a variety of prescription diabetic cat foods. In fact, he was down 1/2 pound from his last glucose check which is a lot for a cat who was not at all overweight. The physical exam didn't turn up anything significant; he had a mild case of conjunctivitis which I was told is not unusual in this area at this time of year due to the pollen count. Dr. Sisco gave me some medicinal ointment to put in his eyes twice and also prescribed an appetite stimulant to be given twice a day. Woody seemed to like the sample of Hills Science Diet diabetic food she gave us, so I immediately called up my friends at Chewy.com to order some. They are absolutely the BEST company I have ever dealt with for anything and noting that I had just bought a case of the OTHER kind of diabetic food, they gave me a full refund on my credit card and just asked that I donate the unused food. Not a problem.
Two days later, the shipment of the new food arrived and I felt like this was all Woody needed -- a change. After all, I would get pretty tired of eating the same thing day after day. I was encouraged.
But my hope was short-lived. Not only was the appetite stimulator pill NOT working, one of the side effects is that it can make the animal lethargic. Woody was already lethargic and spending more and more time off to himself than engaging with me or Buzzy.
Labor Day weekend was truly the longest of my life! I had spoken to Dr. Sisco on the Friday of, and she said to try giving him some of the Cerenia (anti-nausea meds) that I had leftover from Jake; that perhaps his tummy was upset about something. So I started that, but there was no change in Woody's appetite or general demeanor. By Sunday, he was only getting up to take a bite or two of food and he seemed to be having trouble even negotiating the water fountain which he has always LOVED to drink out of and PLAY in with his front paws. There were two times on Monday that I found him sleeping in my closet and both of those times, his breathing was so shallow I thought he had passed! My stomach was in knots. There was no way I could afford to take him to the Pet ER and I prayed hard for him to make it through until Tuesday.
Tuesday morning, both Dr. Sisco and I were alarmed that Woody had lost another POUND in just a week. He had no fever, no tenderness in his abdomen. His blood glucose was good, but he was NOT himself at all. Normally, when we are waiting in the exam room, he would snook all around taking in all the different smells and then greet Dr. Sisco by rubbing up against her legs. This day, he flopped down on the floor with his back to us.
As he hadn't had an adult blood panel done in about a year, we decided this would be the time to do it. She was also able to express some urine from his bladder and test that. I agreed to leave him there until they could get the tests back in order to eliminate the stress of another car ride. The afternoon went by slowly for me, but Dr. Sisco called about 3:30 to tell me that the tests indicated he may have a kidney infection, but that the reading from the blood panel was off the charts for blood protein. She said she would like to do a further study and even said she would have it done at no charge to me; this would give us more definitive information and would help her get closer to a total diagnosis. I agreed to let Woody spend the night at the clinic. He was resting comfortably and, of course, everyone on Dr. Sisco's staff just adores him.
It was a long night for me. Buzzy hunted all over for his big buddy, but finally settled down. I prayed hard and remained cautiously optimistic.
Shortly after 9 a.m. on Wednesday morning, Dr. Sisco called. Yes, Woody did have a kidney infection and they had given him the appropriate antibiotic to treat that already. But the numbers for his blood protein were off the charts, which indicates something a lot more serious. She said, "My experience tells me that this could either be (some long medical word that I can't spell or pronounce) bone marrow cancer OR the mutated FIV virus. As the test for this mutated virus is not real accurate (they give as many false positives as false negatives) we agreed that to do it was just a waste of money. IF Woody was sick with that mutated virus, there is no cure. There is also no cure for bone marrow cancer. I was devastated. Dr. Sisco encouraged me to take him home for the day and overnight and to call her later on in the day or first thing Thursday morning.
Not wanting Woody to have to deal with little Buzzy's incessant play, I packed up his things and took him over to Julie's house. He LOVES IT THERE! He engages and actively plays with her little Italian Greyhound, Maybel, and would have a lot more fun over there than he would here with me having to keep him from bothering Woody. After dropping him off, I went to the Cat Clinic to bring Woody home for what I already knew in my heart and mind would be his last day in this life.
Aside from a tiny bit of "contraband" wet food and a little bit of water, all Woody wanted to do was lie down and sleep. Linda came over in the afternoon; we talked about how hard it is to make the decision for our pets when enough is enough. So when she left, I called the Cat Care Clinic and set an appointment for 10:30 this morning.
Lisa came over later in the evening to say her goodbyes to Woody and she offered such a lovely prayer for both Woody AND me. She asked our Heavenly Father to just take Woody in his sleep if He saw fit. and if not, to pleaselet Jake and Hallie know that their dear friend would be on his way shortly. Lisa said, "I will pick you up at 10:00 in the morning and take you to the vet." Dear Lisa had known Jake & Woody since they were tiny kittens and she loved them as much as I did.
It was a very long and difficult evening for me, but Woody wanted to be close. He slept on my lap for a very long time and when it got close to my bedtime, I carried him in and placed him on the blanket. I didn't sleep too well and got up once to find Woody sleeping on the lanai. Granted, that was always his second favorite place to sleep, but I just didn't want him to have to die by himself.
Woody was so weak and so dehydrated this morning, he felt like a bag of bones in my arms. He showed little interest in exploring the treatment room while we waited for Dr. Sisco to come in. Dr. Sisco had tears in her eyes when she did and immediately gave me a big hug. She said, "This is so very hard! He is the best patient I have ever had -- a truly wonderful cat in all respects -- and we have both tried very hard to keep him happy and healthy." I broke down but knew I was doing the best thing for Woody.
As expected, he slipped away quickly and peacefully as I stroked his head and whispered to him "Goodbye, dear one. I will see you again one day." I am crying as I write this. I have pictures of "My Boyz" on the shelf here in my office. I never expected to lose Jake so soon and so quickly -- and now losing Woody.... The pain is huge. Woody's remains will be cremated and returned to me next Tuesday, together with the beautiful paw imprint memento that like the one I had done for Jake. I had thought about asking the folks who bought my Maryland farm if I could come and sprinkle their ashes on my little pet cemetery there, but I'm not sure I can handle even visiting my old home just yet. So I will just keep them here for now.
Woody will not be soon forgotten -- nor will Jake. I watch Buzzy fly around here and he is so much like BOTH of them, it's amazing. He is alternately a cuddle bug (Woody) and a little terrorist (Jake) but he brings me great joy every single day. Buzzy is sound asleep now and has been since I brought him home from Julie's. And Julie volunteered to keep him while I make my trip to Maryland from the 18th through the 28th. I know he will have lots of fun over there with all his new friends. When I return, I may have to consider adopting a close-in-age companion for him, as I have always believed that everyone needs a friend. But we'll see...I need some time.
For those of you who have known about Woody's illness the past two weeks, thank you for your words of love and support. For those who haven't, I apologize for the length of this writing, but felt compelled to share this part of my Journey with you.
From my heart to yours,kathi
Replies
So sorry Kathi
Very sorry for your loss and Woodys troubles,
An expression of my mothers is that the highest form of reincarnation is to come back as the right persons pet
With how you cared for Woody that sounds about right
Oh Kathi, so sorry, and so soon after your other kitty passed. It\'s never easy, but I know it helps to know his best buddy is with him now. Hope your new little boy helps you get through this. Sending a hug.
I\'m so very sorry for your loss my friend. Sending healing prayers to you.
Sorry for you loss, Kathi. We lost our Alex last October 9th, but the new kitten has been doing his best to fill in the void.
I\'m so sorry, dear friend. It is so hard to lose a precious animal that we hold dear to our hearts. The tears were flowing as I read your journal entry. My heart aches for you. Sending lots of hugs and tons of love.
Oh, kathi...I am so sad for you. Losing a pet is soooo very hard. Big Hugs and prayers you you, my friend. Bring a cat person myself and having lost some of my own, I feel your pain.Glad you have Buzzy.
When I saw your post, without reading it, I knew what it was about. I am so sad that your good buddies have gone from you in just a few months. Losing one is more than enough; losing both, well, I can\'t comprehend. Hang in there. Hugs and love, Neesie
I\'m tearing up reading your post about Woody. I know how you feel having just lost my beloved Rocky. I am so sorry for your loss. It\'s so sad to have to make such a decision but we know it is unselfish to let them go so they don\'t suffer. You gave Woody such a great life. He loved you so much and you loved him. So happy you have little Buzzy :)
Hugs to you Kathi,
Donna
I\'m so sorry and wish I could be there to comfort you. Please know I am thinking of you across the miles. So glad I got to meet the boys when I came down in the spring. RIP Woody.
I am so sorry to hear about your loosing your beloved baby. Know that I am thinking of you. Our animals are so much our adopted children. I do not know how I would have gotten over my divorce without my cat and dog. Sending you a hug.
I\'m so sorry Kathi! I know how hard it is to say goodbye. I wish I could have met him but I feel like I know him from your communication over the years. Thinking about you and praying for your comfort!
Kathi, it was so hard to read this because I know how much you love all your pets...well, all animals. I am so glad you have caring people around you to help you through this AND a caring veterinarian. (((HUGS))) You will be in my thoughts and prayers.
Kathi- I\'m so sorry to hear this. ((hugs))