We'll miss you, sweetie!
We noticed on Saturday that he was throwing up and/or trying to a lot. Otherwise, he seemed fairly healthy, but the buddy never throws up. By Sunday, all that was left was bile. We thought that maybe he ate something that disagreed with him, or had a lodged hairball, so I called Monday morning and Tom took him to the vet. She checked him, and didn't find anything obstructing, but noticed that one kidney was much smaller than the other in the X-ray. She did some bloodwork, and sent us home with stuff for his nausea. He slept with us that night, which he hadn't done Saturday or Sunday, and Tuesday morning, he cuddled with Tom until Tom had to go in. On his way to work, Tom had me call the vet for his bloodwork results. When she got back to me at 5, she said that we had better bring him back in, because his kidney levels were seriously escalated. So I called Dad and he picked me up after work and we took the Buddy to the vet. She put him on an I.V. for fluids, nausea medication, and antibiotics just in case. At that time, we discussed the idea that he had a kidney stone lodged in his ureter (much more serious than when he had one in his urethra), possible surgery, and maybe a need to treat him for renal failure. Tom and I were willing to give him shots (twice a week) if necessary, and if it would keep him happy and healthy for at least a few years. But when I called back today, she said his levels had actually gotten worse. The vet thought that we should take him to the emergency clinic at eight p.m., so they could monitor him overnight and then do an ultrasound in the morning. But she wasn't sure if he would make it through the night either way. The biggest thing is this just came on so fast, and otherwise, he looked perfectly healthy. When he had the first blockage, he had the whole rough fur, dull eyes look of a dying cat, and he was hiding, always a bad sign. But this time, no. But none of this changed the fact that one kidney had shriveled and failed, and the other one had massive calcification, none of which had been present at his last x-Ray in May. Even if the ultrasound showed a ureter obstruction, removing it wouldn't improve the health of the kidneys. I think if they had been able to do the ultrasound tonight, we might have gone ahead with it, even though we really knew the outcome. But the process of putting him in the car, which he HATES (that may not be a strong enough word, we have to monitor him so he doesn't go into shock on car rides), to take him to yet another cage for more needles and a *very* high chance that he would die at night in a cage in pain and without us - we couldn't do it. None of my pets have ever died alone, and I'm not going to start now. Especially when even if he didn't die then, we would probably have to make the decision again in the morning. So we went out and the vet brought him in, and we sat on the bench with him and loved him lots and he gave us his purrs, and then we held him on the table and let him go.
Tom and I know we made a good decision, but dammit, he was only eight, and he was our baby and the bed is going to be awfully lonely without him.
