Celine 2006-2024
I lost my sweet Leenie cat last night (Friday, 4/26). I made an appointment for an in-home euthanasia service to come to the house on Saturday so that she wouldn't have to make a last scary trip to the vet. However, late Friday night she was in distress and I couldn't wait. I had to bring her in to the emergency vet.
I'm not really sure what was going on with my girl. She was hyperthyroid but that was being well managed. For the past month I'd been having trouble getting her to eat anything and she was vomiting. Several trips to the vet and inconclusive lab tests didn't give us any clear answers. She had developed renal failure since her last labwork in September but the vet felt that wasn't the cause of the vomiting and not eating and some other off lab values she had. The vet did say Celine's intestines felt unusual and thought that either IBD or possibly GI lymphoma were possible causes. That would have required an ultrasound. I would do anything for my cats, even go into debt and borrow money if need be to pay for treatments. But there comes a point where you have to weigh if what you're doing is going to be more for you or for your furbaby. Considering her age, how far she had already declined and the new renal failure diagnosis, I thought (and my vet agreed with me) that the best thing to do would be to let her go.
Like I said, I was hoping to do this at home but I had to wait until Saturday for an appointment and she just didn't make it that long. I ended up bringing her to the same emergency vet where I brought Maya in January. If you're interested in reading about the euthanasia process I wrote about it on Maya's goodbye post.
I am now a catless cat lady. Cats have always been a part of my life. The last time I had a period of no cats was in the late 1980s - over 30 years ago. It's not even been a whole day but the house is emptier and lonelier. I feel like my heart had barely gotten over losing Maya and now it's broken again with the loss of Celine. I will eventually have another cat (or several!) in my life. I've never gone out and purposefully gotten a cat. The Cat Distribution System has always come through for me. But for now, it's kind of sad around here.
Do you have a furbaby in your life? Give them some love. Pat them on the head, give them cheek scritches, maybe even a belly rub, if they like that. Tell them how much you love them and hold them close (if they will allow that!) or just be with them and enjoy their presence.